Mirror-Spe RMENIAN ctator€¦ · 5/5/2018 · President Urges Prisoner to End Hunger Strike...

President UrgesPrisoner to End Hunger

StrikeYEREVAN (Armenpress) — President of Armenia

Armen Sarkissian urged the president of the“Founding Parliament” initiative GareginChugaszyan not to jeopardize his health and stophis hunger strike. Sarkissian met with Chugaszyanon May 18 near the Matenadaran yard.

Chugaszyan is on hunger strike to seek therelease of his fellow Founding Parliament memberswho are still in prison.

The parents of Armen Sarkissian and GareginChugaszyan have known each other for a long timeand their families are friends.

Chugaszyan, 53, was chairman of the FoundingParliament initiative, an opposition movement, andwas detained in 2015 for organizing riots ahead ofApril 24 – the Armenian Genocide commemorationday. However, the prosecution changed the detentiona few days later and Chugaszyan was released on bond.

Chugaszyan later failed to appear before court.He had changed his place of residence without noti-fying authorities as required by law, thus violatingthe terms of his release.

The court issued an arrest warrant for him.Police apprehended Chugaszyan on April 24,

2018 when he was visiting the Tsitsernakaberdmemorial complex. He was arrested but after a fewdays released by the petition of Ararat Mirzoyanand Lena Nazaryan, MPs representing “Yelk” bloc.Ararat Mirzoyan later was appointed First DeputyPrime Minister of Armenia. Chugaszyan declared ahunger strike on April 24, the day of his arrest.

More Reserves NeededIn Armenia

YEREVAN (Arka) — The number of naturalreserves in Armenia should be increased, said AramAghasyan, the head of a department at the Ministryof Nature Protection, overseeing specially protect-ed natural areas and arboretums.

Speaking at a news conference on May 22 he saidsome 452 species of plants, 40 species of mushrooms,155 species of invertebrates and 153 species of ver-tebrates are included in the Red Book of Armenia. Inhis words, some 70 percent of the flora and faunaspecies are in special nature conservation areas,which means that ‘we need to create new reserves topreserve the other 30 percent of species.”

According to Aghasyan, since 2009 the territoryof reserves throughout Armenia has increased by100,000 hectares. He also noted that the latest edi-tion of the Red Book of Armenia was released in2010, and the next one is planned to be released in2020, but research work should begin now.

There are now 34 specially protected naturalareas in Armenia, including national parks, naturalreserves, and game preserves. Their total area is383,000 hectares.

Mirror- SpectatorMirror- SpectatorTHE ARMENIAN

Volume LXXXVIII , NO. 44, Issue 4539

MAY 26 , 2 018

$ 2.00

INSIDE

The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932NEWS IN BRIEF

IlluminatingManuscripts

3

INDEXArts and Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Armenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,3Community News. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,5

YEREVAN – President Armen Sarkissianof the Republic of Armenia received a dele-gation of leaders from the ArmenianDemocratic Liberal Party (ADL) CentralCommittee and Supreme Council in hisoffices on Monday, May 21.

For over half an hour, a series of criticalissues were examined which concern theArmenians of the homeland as much as theArmenians of the diaspora. The judgmentsand observations generally were positiveunder the circumstances created by theVelvet Revolution.

In particular, the possibility of forthcom-ing elections, the question of repatriation,the manner of assuring economic invest-ments were discussed, along with the newtrajectory of Armenian diaspora-homelandrelations.

The ADL delegation included VartanNazerian, president of the SupremeCouncil, Hagop Avedikian, president of theCentral Committee, Edmond Y. Azadian,Hagop Vartivarian, Kevork Marashlian,Armen Manvelyan, Khoren Kalinian,Edward Manoukian, and Karen Kakoyan.

Diaspora Minister,TCA Central BoardDelegation Meet

YEREVAN — Newly appointed ArmenianMinister of the Diaspora MkhitarHayrapetyan received a delegation of mem-bers of the Central Board of the TekeyanCultural Association of the United Statesand Canada in his offices on May 18. Thedelegation was composed of Edmond Y.Azadian, Hagop Vartivarian and KevorkMarashlian.

The delegates congratulated the youngminister and reported on the plans of theTekeyan Cultural Association in Armeniaas well as the diaspora. In particular, possi-ble plans for repatriation were discussed.

SARDARAPAT, Armenia – In events marking the centennial of the Battle of Sardarapat, 450 youthsjoined the ranks of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party. See article on page 3 and related edi-torial on the Battle of Sardarapat on page 17.

NewArmenianGovernmentSworn in

YEREVAN (RFE/RL, Arka) — PrimeMinister Nikol Pashinyan and the mem-bers of his cabinet were sworn in onMonday, May 21 in a ceremony led byPresident Armen Sarkissian.

•Mher Grigoryan, former Ardshinbankboard chairman, was appointed deputyprime minister.

•Davit Tonoyan was named Minister ofDefense.

•Armenia’s former ambassador to UNZohrab Mnatsakanyan was appointedMinister of Foreign Affairs.

•Mane Tandiliyan, from Pashinyan’sYelk parliamentary faction, was appoint-ed Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.

•Artak Zeynalyan of Yelk will headthe Ministry of Justice.

•Former deputy finance ministerAtom Janjughazyan will serve asMinister of Finance.

•Arsen Torosyan was appointed asHealth Minister.

•Former governor of the Shirakregion, Artur Khachatryan, will headthe Ministry of Agriculture.

•Former nature protection minister,Artsvik Minasyan will lead the Ministryof Economic Development andInvestments.

•Levon Vahradyan will serve as thecountry’s Minister of Sport and YouthAffairs.

•Suren Papikyan will head theMinistry of Territorial Administrationand Development.

•Arayik Harutyunyan will head theMinistry of Education and Science.

•Former sports minister HrachyaRostomyan was appointed EmergenciesMinister.

•Artur Grigoryan is the new Ministerof Energy Infrastructures and NaturalResources.

•Lilit Makunts is Culture Minister.•Erik Grigoryan is Minister of Nature

Protection.•Ashot Hakobyan is Minister of

Transport, Communication andInformation Technology.

•Mkhitar Hayrapetyan was appointedMinister of Diaspora.

see NEW GOVERNMENT, page 2

The ADL delegation with President Armen Sarkissian, sixth from left.

President Armen SarkissianReceives ADL Delegation

From lef t, Hagop Vartivarian, KevorkMarashlian, Minister of the Diaspora MkhitarHayrapetyan, and Edmond Azadian

Leading MIT EconomistCalls on Armenian

People to Be Active inPolitical Process

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Renowned economistDaron Acemoglu, who has agreed to assist Armeniain developing its economy, said on Monday, May 21,that the youth in Armenia must turn its engagementin politics into a positive trend of changes.“I’m happy to share my knowledge as it’s an excit-

ing time, and at least I can do that. It’s the Armenianpeople who should make a step, rather than theprime minister, the MPs or judges, as well as neitherme nor the Diaspora. The Armenian people, youth,who have been silent for a long time, must beengaged in politics, they should find a way to keeptheir participation in this and turn it into a positivetrend of change. But this doesn’t mean that peopleshould hold protests every day. They must beinvolved in, should not allow the repetition of mis-takes made in the past two-three decades,” the econ-omist said via live video at a discussion titled“Armenia Tomorrow: Citizen Diplomacy at Work”organized by the Institute of Armenian Studies of theUniversity of Southern California.Acemoglu added that citizens should be vigilant,

find the right way to control vie media and civil soci-ety structures in order to be assured that the newleadership is not the previous one, they are the con-tinuation of the positive change.“This is really a perfect opportunity of precondi-

tions for us to move forward. At the moment it isimportant to create a system where there is an equalgame field, there are promoting factors, opportuni-ties and people are encouraged to effectively partici-pate in the country’s social and economic life,” hesaid.

Yerevan Mayor RefusesTo Quit Despite ProtestsYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Yerevan’s Mayor Taron

Markarian ruled out his resignation on May 16 in theface of continuing protests by supporters ofArmenia’s new central government whose membersaccuse him of corruption and mismanagement.Markarian has been under pressure to step down

since opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan replacedSerzh Sargsyan as the country’s prime minister onMay 8.More than 30 protesters broke into the municipal-

ity building on May 16 after it emerged that treeshave been cut down in a nearby public park undergo-ing a complete reconstruction financed by a privatecharity. Police officers stopped them from advancingfurther towards Markarian’s office.The angry protesters blocked a corridor leading to

the office for nearly three hours, demanding that themayor explain what they see as the park’s destruc-tion and resign. They rejected a proposal byMarkarian’s two deputies to vacate the building andmeet with the mayor in an adjacent conference hall.The municipal administration publicly demanded

that the Armenian police take action against theintruders. The police chief, Valeri Osipian, discussedthe incident with Markarian by phone afterwards.“Why didn’t they inform us before cutting the

trees?” one protester told RFE/RL’s Armenian ser-vice (Azatutyun.am). “Why didn’t they say what theyare going to do?”Alen Simonian, until now a member of Yerevan’s

municipal council representing Pashinyan’s Yelkalliance, backed the protesters’ demands when hearrived at the scene. He said that Markarian, who isaffiliated with Sargsyan’s Republican Party (HHK),must quit because he is part of a “political team” thathas lost power in the country. Simonian also criti-cized Markarian’s track record.The mayor rejected these demands when emerged

from the building later in the day to speak toreporters in the presence of several dozen supportersholding a counterdemonstration there.”I condemnthat,” he said. “It’s clear that there was a violation ofthe law. The activists broke into the municipalitybuilding and tried to disrupt the normal work of themunicipality.”

News From Armenia

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R2

ARMENIA

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and members of his government pose for a photograph with President Armen Sarkissian afterbeing sworn in at the presidential palace in Yerevan, May 21.

NEW GOVERNMENT, from page 1•Valery Osipyan was appointed

chief of Police.•Artur Vanetsyan was named direc-

tor of the National Security Service. Pashinyan said on Monday that he

remains determined to force freshparliamentary elections in Armenia.

“As I have said, pre-term electionsare a priority for us,” Pashinyan toldreporters after the oath of

office.“But it doesn’t mean that thisis the only issue that we must solve,”he said. “The government has tofunction normally and it has and willhave long-term programs. One thingdoesn’t contradict the other.”

“After all, this government will alsobe taking part in the pre-term parlia-mentary elections. In what format?That’s a different issue,” he added.

Pashinyan called for such elections

immediately after tens of thousandsof his supporters demonstrating inthe streets of Yerevan forced PrimeMinister and former President SerzhSargsyan to resign on April 23. Hesaid last week that he expects thepolls to be held later this year.

Pashinyan made clear on Mondaythat his political team will draftsuch amendments before the end ofJune.

New Armenian Government Sworn in

By Sylva Asryan

YEREVAN — This year the Vahan Tekeyan Awards cere-mony of the Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA), supportedby the Shake Tekeyan-Ghazarian Fund of the TCA of theUnited States and Canada, took place on May 17 at theTekeyan Center. These annual awards recognize and encour-age the best work in various fields of Armenian culture.During its existence, over 100 worthy individuals have beenrecognized.

Rouben Mirzakhanyan, president of the TCA of Armenia,announced the winners, congratulated them, and thankedthe committees of specialistsfor their work in the awardsprocess.

Poet Manvel Mikoyanreceived the award in the fieldof literature for his collectionof poetry, titled Stverneritsandin [Beyond the Shadows].Edmond Y. Azadian, overseasmember of the Academy ofSciences of the Republic ofArmenia, presented theaward, declaring, “The vol-ume Stvernerits andin char-acterizes the universalthoughts of contemporaryman.” He added that the poetalso “expresses his poetic anx-iety concerning the night-mare of an emptying home-land.”

Azadian remarked thatMikoyan, like the IstanbulArmenian poet Zahrad, couldpoetically present aspectsfrom the course of daily life and evinced the spirit of thepoet Rouben Sevak through universal and complex gener-alizations.

The drama award was given to the Vardan AchemyanState Theater of Gyumri for its presentation of GabrielGarcia Marquez’s “Eyes of a Blue Dog.” Armen Elbakyan,president of the award committee, noted that the staging ofMarquez’s works was as complex as the latter’s prose.However, the youth succeeded in presenting Marquez’s“black and white world, [his] sharp, laconic environment,”where it is difficult to determine the boundary between illu-

sion and reality. The award in the field of music was given to Eduard

Topchyan for his activities in 2017. Hagop Avedikian, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Azg, considered the competitionan extraordinary phenomenon, and the award the recogni-tion of years of effort and accomplishment, though a littlelate. He stressed that thanks to Topchyan, Yerevan hadbecome a capital city of music.

In turn, Topchyan, the conductor of the ArmenianPhilharmonic Orchestra, declared, “It is important for methat I am a small part of music, and not the director of amusical group, and it is pleasing to receive such an honor-able award.”

Khachatur Abovyan State Pedagogical University docent

Misak Melkonyan’s sculpture “The Violinist” received thenotice of the specialists of the award committee for visualarts and sculpture. Doctor of Art Hravard Hakobyan evalu-ated this and Melkonyan’s sculpture “Homeland,” pointingout that in “The Violinist,” the artist wishes to make theviewer forget about the surroundings and remain onlyimmersed in music.

All the awardees expressed their thanks for the honor ofreceiving these awards bearing the name of the great poetVahan Tekeyan.

(Translated from the Armenian)

2018 Tekeyan Awards Winners Announced

Tekeyan award winners

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R 3

ARMENIA

YEREVAN – Members of the Central Boardof the Tekeyan Cultural Association of theUnited States and Canada met with their coun-terparts of Armenia on May 15 at the TekeyanCenter to discuss policies and future joint activ-ities.

The participating members of TekeyanArmenia included President RoubenMirzakhanyan and board members ArmenElbakyan, Vahagn Hasmikyan, KurkenGevorkyan, Stepan Stepanyan, Ara Hakobyan,Sergey Vardanyan, Haroutyun Khachaturyan andExecutive Director Gayane Muradyan.

The participating members from the US andCanada included President Edmond Y. Azadian,Hagop Vartivarian, Kevork Marashlian, KevorkKeushkerian, Silva Keushkerian and ExecutiveDirector Aram Arkun.

Azadian opened the meeting and reviewedthe past activities of the Tekeyan CulturalAssociation (TCA) in Armenia. He declared thatin this new revolutionary period of Armenian

life, TCA should have more extensive activityand a greater role in people’s lives. This meet-ing, he said, was an opportunity to strengthenthe already existing bonds of cooperation.

The introduction of the capitalist system toArmenia and privatization led to the weakeningof support of the Armenian cultural sphere,which nonprofit non-governmental organiza-tions must try to bolster in this period. TCA ofthe US and Canada, he said, is ready to providesupport, as it does in some parts of the MiddleEast and Europe.

Mirzakhanyan then welcomed the visitors toArmenia and thanked them for their financialsupport of the Tekeyan annual cultural awards.He pointed out that for a variety of reasonsTekeyan’s activities in Armenia over the lasttwo or three years were not as extensive asbefore and that they must now increase.

Mirzakhanyan proposed coming up withplans for new cultural programs that wouldhave great éclat and value both in Armenia and

abroad. Supporting education should also be apriority, he said.

Cooperation in promoting Armenian drama

groups and scholarships were the two initialproposals that the two Tekeyan organizationsagreed to explore.

Tekeyan Central Committees of Armenia and US and Canada Meet

Members of the executives of the Tekeyan Cultural Associations of Armenia and the United Statesand Canada meet

The SecondADL YouthAssemblyConvened atSardarapat

SARDARAPAT, Armenia — The second ArmenianDemocratic Liberal Party (ADL) youth assembly took placeon May 20 in the Sardarapat Complex.

Approximately 450 newly enrolled ADL members partici-pated, along with some party leaders from Armenia and var-ious diasporan communities, such as Vartan Nazerian, pres-ident of the ADL Supreme Council and Hagop Avedikian,chairman of the Central Committee.

Ozheni Avetisyan, chair of the ADL youth group ofArmavir, led the opening ceremonies and acted as master ofceremonies throughout the event. After she spoke,Andranik Surenyan, representative of the VanadzorProvince ADL, took the floor.

Edmond Y. Azadian, member of the ADL SupremeCouncil and president of the Tekeyan Cultural Associationof the United States and Canada, delivered his words of wel-come, recalling the vital role of the Battle of Sardarapat and

its significance in the history of the Armenian people. Henoted the undeniable participation of the ADL in this vic-tory.

Azadian said, “Sardarapat is not a monument. It is notstone and wood. Sardarapat is blood. Today we stand on theblood of the martyrs of the heroic Battle of Sardarapat ofone hundred years ago. I want you to be aware of thisbecause we turned that blood into life. Thanks to that bloodspilled here one hundred years ago, we today have an inde-pendent homeland, and in that matter, the ADL had its role.Today we humble ourselves before that blood, we humbleourselves before those heroes, who spilled that blood. We

humble ourselves so that today you, you youth, proudlystand in front of this monument and swear in their namethat our homeland will continue for one hundred moreyears, and for one thousand more years. It will continue,since we are taking an oath on the blood of our heroes thatthe Armenians are a people who have the right to live. Dearyouth, you are the generation inheriting Sardarapat. Youmust live long so that our homeland lives long.”

The centennial ceremony of the Sardarapat Battle coin-cided with the solemn oath-taking ceremony of the newlyenrolled young members of the ADL. Nazerian, Azadian andVartkes Kourouyan conducted it in unison.

Afterwards, Nazerian spoke, stressing the pivotal role ofthe youth for the building of Armenia today and the future.In particular, he stressed the necessity for the strength andenergy of the youth to serve towards the progress and pros-perity of Armenia. Nazerian remarked that henceforth the

youth too can hold positions in the political party’s admin-istrative bodies. Finally, he added that the change of gener-ations is not revolution, and that while realizing this change,the sacrifices and labor of senior party members must bealways remembered.

Nazerian exclaimed, “The motto of our party is ‘Of thepeople, with the people and for the people.’ Now I wish todeclare that henceforth our motto is ‘Of the youth, with theyouth and for young Armenia.’ Long live you all! May youquickly grow so strong that we cross to the other shore ofthe Araxes [River] and view Mount Ararat from the otherside. May we meet again next year in Van.”

The ADL president declared 2018 to be the year of theADL youth. In the name of the Supreme Council and theCentral Committee, Nazerian also declared that the partywould participate in the next elections of the ArmenianNational Assembly.

Vartkes Kourouyan was another one of the speakers, andlike the other ADL leaders, he stressed the necessity ofincorporating youth into the ranks of the party.

Talented members of the ADL assured the festive natureof the event by presenting Armenian national dances andmusic to the participants and the guests. The ADL youthand guests also visited the museum of Sardarapat devotedto Armenian ethnography and the history of the Armenianliberation struggle, and began familiar with Armenian cul-ture and the history of the heroic battles of May.

From left, Vartkes Kourouyan, Edmond Azadian, VartanNazerian, administering the ADL oath

At the Sardarapat Museum

Young ADL dancers

Ozheni Avetisyan, chair of the ADL youth group of Armavir

T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R4

INTERNATIONAL

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8

US, French Official VisitsYEREVAN (Public Radio of Armenia) — US Deputy

Assistant Secretary in the State Department’sBureau of European and EurasianAffairs Bridget Brink is expected to visit Armenianext week, Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry ofForeign Affairs Tigran Balayan told a press briefingtoday.On May 27-28 Armenia will host French Foreign

Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Spokesman noted.In addition, he said, thousands of Diaspora

Armenians are expected to attend the May 28 cele-brations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of thefirst Republic of Armenia.

Australian ResolutionRecognizes Artsakh

RYDE, Australia (Armenpress) — On May 22, theRyde City Council unanimously adopted a resolutionin support of recognizing the independence of theRepublic of Artsakh. The City Council called on thecentral government to officially recognize the inde-pendence of the Republic of Artsakh and strengthenAustralia’s relationship with Artsakh and its citi-zens, Artsakh’s foreign ministry told Armenpress.Following is the text of the resolution:The resolution notes that 2018 marks the 30th

anniversary of the launch of the Artsakh liberationmovement and that it is a free and democratic society.

Russian, Turkish FMsDiscuss Syria

MOSCOW (Armenpress) — Russian ForeignMinister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpartMevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation onMay 22 during which the ministers discussed thejoint work on promoting the Syrian settlementprocess with the Astana format, the Russian foreignministry said, RIA Novosti reports.“The ministers discussed a number of urgent

issues of mutual interest, including the joint work inthe Astana format on the Syrian settlement based onthe UN Security Council’s Resolution 2254,” thestatement said.

Azeri Troops Warned NotTo Advance Towards

Armenian BorderYEREVAN (RFE/RL) — The Armenian military

warned Azerbaijani forces against trying to advancetowards Armenia’s border after an Azerbaijani sol-dier was shot dead there on Sunday.The soldier, Adil Tatarov, was reportedly killed by

Armenian troops guarding the border withAzerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. The AzerbaijaniForeign Ministry accused Yerevan of escalating ten-sions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.The Armenian Defense Ministry blamed the fatal

shooting on “provocative” actions which it said havebeen taken Azerbaijani troops at some sections ofthe Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier in recent weeks.The ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, saidthey have been “conducting active engineering worksfor the purpose of improving and advancing theirpositions.”“The armed forces of Armenia have periodically,

including in the last several days, warned the com-manders of Azerbaijani forces deployed on the bor-der with Armenia that this and other provocativeactions cause shootouts and could lead to undesir-able losses,” Hovannisian wrote on Facebook. Suchactions “cannot stay unanswered,” he said.Armenia’s newly appointed Defense Minister Davit

Tonoyan and Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanianjointly visited some of the Armenian army posts onthe Nakhichevan border on May 18. According to hispress office, Tonoyan told troops serving there to“strictly thwart any adventure by the enemy.”The two ministers inspected the troops two days

after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev visitedNakhichevan and touted military buildup carried outthere in recent years. “Long-range missiles deployedin Nakhichevan can destroy any military target of theenemy,” Aliyev said.

International News

By Haykaram Nahapetyan

OTTAWA — The annual ArmenianGenocide commemoration took place inOttawa on April 24. After a prayer at theembassy of the Republic of Armenia, themain gathering was held in front of theCanadian Parliament building.Participants included high-ranking rep-resentatives from both legislative andexecutive branches of the Canadianpolitical leadership such as the Ministerof Foreign Affairs, Minister of CanadianHeritage, members of the Parliamentfrom both the ruling and oppositionparties and representatives of theJewish, Greek, Ukrainian and Rwandancommunities.

Minister of Canadian HeritageMelanie Joly thanked the participantsfor being part of the Genocide com-memoration event and praised theCanadian-Armenian “strong and vibrantcommunity” for assisting their compa-triots from Middle East who continue tofind refuge in Canada.

Bryan May, the chair of the Canada-Armenia Friendship Group, spoke of his

trip to Yerevan in April 2015, where herepresented “not only the Canadian-Armenian community, but all of Canada,laying a wreath for the government ofCanada.” David Cooper, director ofGovernment Relations at the Centre forIsrael and Jewish Affairs, affirmed hissolidarity with the Armenian communi-ty and highlighted that it was theArmenian Genocide that became thepredecessor of the Holocaust.

“Your struggles for education, recog-nition, remembrance and finally justiceare our struggles too,” said Helleniccommunity activist Dr. TheodoreHalatsis, president of the CanadianHellenic Congress. The Greek commu-nity has been working hard to have theatrocities against Greeks committed byYoung Turks and Kemalist forces to berecognized as genocide. Even thoughthe recognition on federal level is lack-ing as of now, about a dozen of citiesand various settlements of Canadahave already adopted resolutions call-ing the Greek massacres “genocide.”MP of Greek origin EmmanuellaLambropoulos was also present at theevent. Garnett Genuis, MP from the

opposing Conservative party sharplycriticized Ankara for sending its troopsacross the border of her sovereignneighbor Syria and called theCanadian government to stand againstit. MP also criticized Azerbaijani leaderIlhåam Aliyev for waging and armsrace in the region.

(See accompanying video report atour website.)

ISTANBUL (Armenpress) — A Turkishcourt has remanded Rozerin Zeri, ahuman rights activist, in pretrial deten-tion due to her social media postsdeemed to be “propaganda on behalf ofa terrorist organization,” the StockholmCenter for Freedom (SCF), an advocacyorganization that promotes the rule oflaw, democracy, fundamental rights andfreedoms, reported May 20.

According to SCF, the woman is ofArmenian background. The only factbacking SCF’s claim on Zeri’s Armenianbackground is a Facebook account withthe same name where the user’s coun-try of origin is mention as Armenia. It isunclear if the account is real and thecredibility of the Armenian backgroundclaim is uncertain.

According to a tweet posted by AcunKaradag, a history teacher who wasfired with a government decree issuedby the Turkish government in the

aftermath of the coup attempt on July15, 2016, Zeri was put behind bars lateon Saturday, May 19, because ofFacebook posts that are critical of theTurkish government. “Rozerin Zeri.She was arrested today due to hersocial media posts. She is the motherof a sick child. What kind of crimecould she commit with a single tweet?She is innocent. What’s with thehurry? What are you trying to do?Enough is enough!” Karadag tweeted.

Turkey has launched thousands ofinvestigations into social media usersbased on simple criticizing statementswhich the government deems to beinsults. A total of 1,080 people wereconvicted of insulting President RecepTayyip Erdogan in 2016, according todata from Turkey’s Justice Ministry.Data also showed that 4,936 cases werelaunched against people on charges ofinsult in 2016.

Turkey and IsraelExpel Envoys overGaza Violence

ANKARA (Reuters) — Turkeyand Israel expelled each other’ssenior diplomats on Tuesday, May15, in a dispute over the killing byIsraeli forces of 60 Palestinians aday earlier during protests on theGaza border.

Turkey told Israel’s ambassadorto leave the country on Tuesdayafter Israeli forces killed 60Palestinians during protests onthe Gaza border against the open-ing of the U.S. Embassy inJerusalem.

Turkey has been one of themost vocal critics of Israel’sresponse to the Gaza protests andof the U.S. Embassy move, recall-ing its ambassadors from Tel Avivand Washington and calling for anemergency meeting of Islamicnations on Friday.

President Tayyip Erdogandescribed Monday’s bloodshed,the deadliest for Palestinians sincethe 2014 Gaza conflict, as geno-cide and called Israel a terroriststate. The government declaredthree days of mourning.

“The Israeli ambassador wastold that our envoy to Israel wascalled back for consultations, andwas informed that it would beappropriate for him to go back tohis country for some time,” aTurkish Foreign Ministry sourcesaid.

Hours later Israel’s ForeignMinistry said the Turkish Consul-General in Jerusalem had beensummoned and told to return toTurkey “for consultations for aperiod of time.”

The dispute appears to mark theworst diplomatic crisis betweenthe two regional powers sinceIsraeli marines stormed an aidship to enforce a naval blockade ofGaza in 2010, killing 10 Turkishactivists and prompting a down-grade in diplomatic ties that lasteduntil 2016.

Israel’s Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said onTwitter Erdogan was in no posi-tion to “preach morality to us”because he supported thePalestinian Islamist movementHamas which rules Gaza. “Thereis no doubt he well understandsterrorism and slaughter,”Netanyahu tweeted.

Erdogan tweeted back thatNetanyahu was the leader of “anapartheid state that has occupieda defenseless people’s lands for60+ years in violation of U.N. res-olutions”, adding that he was crit-icizing Turkey to deflect attention.

Turkish Prime Minister BinaliYildirim also said that Muslimcountries should review their tieswith Israel after Monday’s vio-lence.

Ottawa Armenian Genocide CommemorationIncludes Canadian Government Officials

Turkey Jails Ethnic ArmenianWoman For Social Media Post

YEREVAN (Armepress) — A delega-tion led by Demetris Syllouris, presidentof the Parliament of Cyprus, on May 22visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial inYerevan to pay tribute to the memory ofthe Armenian Genocide victims,Armenpress reports.

The delegation members were accom-panied by Vice Speaker of the Parliamentof Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov.

The Cyprus representatives laid awreath at the Memorial and flowers atthe Eternal Flame.

Acting director of the ArmenianGenocide Museum-Institute GevorgVardanyan introduced the history of theconstruction of the Memorial and itssymbolic meaning.

Demetris Syllouris said the recogni-tion of the Armenian Genocide byTurkey and the whole world, as well asthe recognition of each genocide has ahistoric meaning aimed at preventing

similar events in the future.“This is the fight of the Armenians.

We will always stand by Armenians notonly as friends and brothers, but also asa state. It’s a duty not only towardsArmenians, but towards the wholehumanity so that genocides will neverrepeat,” Syllouris said.

The Cypriot delegation toured theGenocide Museum and got acquaintedwith the materials on the Genocide.

At the end of the tour a note was leftin the Museum’s Honorary Guest Bookon behalf of the Cypriot delegation:“We saw yet again, in the humility of apilgrim, the sufferings of the Armenianpeople in the hands of barbarity andhatred. We say: Never again!”

Cyprus is among the first states thatrecognized and condemned theArmenian Genocide. It adopted a lawcriminalizing the denial of theArmenian Genocide on April 2, 2015.

‘We Say: Never again!’: Cypriot Parliament’s Delegation VisitsArmenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan


INTERNATIONAL

By Amberin Zaman

ISTANBUL (Al Monitor) — Turkish prosecu-tors are seeking to lift the parliamentary immu-nity of an ethnic Armenian lawmaker in order toprosecute and potentially jail him, marking a fur-ther escalation of the government’s assault onfree expression.

Prosecutors in Ankara have invoked Article301, which criminalizes insulting the Turkishnation, and Article 299, which penalizes insult-ing the Turkish president, against Garo Paylan ofthe Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the largestpro-Kurdish bloc in the Turkish parliament.

They were said to be acting on a criminal com-plaint filed in May 2017 by Turkish academicAygun Attar and approved for further action bythe Justice Ministry in December. Attar wasreportedly protesting Paylan’s depiction of themass slaughter of more than a million OttomanArmenians in 1915 as a genocide in separatecomments to the parliament and in an interviewwith the Armenian-Canadian publicationHorizon Weekly, among others. Paylan’s criticalremarks concerning Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan’s recent alliance with far-rightleader Devlet Bahceli and the ensuing crack-down on the media and civil society were like-wise deemed to be insulting to the office of thepresident.

Nine HDP lawmakers, including the party’spresidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas, arecurrently in jail facing a cocktail of terror chargestogether with hundreds of other party officials.But the accusations against Paylan stand out.The government has prosecuted tens of thou-sands of alleged operatives of the religious cultled by Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-basedSunni preacher who is accused of mastermind-ing the failed July 2016 coup. Countless otherssaid to be associated with the outlawedKurdistan Workers Party, including HDP offi-cials, have been rounded up in the thousands onsimilar terror charges. But prosecutors had large-ly steered clear of Article 301, which was com-monly used in the past against those who daredto call the orgy of bloodletting in 1915 a geno-cide.

Article 301’s targets include Turkish novelistOrhan Pamuk and ethnic Armenian journalistHrant Dink, who was gunned down outside theoffice of his Agos newspaper in January 2007 byan ultranationalist youth said to be acting under

the orders of rogue security officials. His murderproved a turning point, opening up nationwidedebate on the genocide at a time whenErdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party(AKP) was still in reformist gear and ready tosign a now frozen peace deal with neighboringArmenia. On the centennial of the genocide in2015, Erdogan sent a message to the tinyArmenian community: “We share theArmenians’ pain with sincerity. The doors of ourhearts are open to the deceased OttomanArmenians’ grandchildren.” This year’s messagewas not quite as magnanimous, with Erdoganwarning some 70,000 Armenian-Turks to spurnthose “who are trying to ignite hatred and hos-tility by distorting [our] shared past,” presumablyby labeling the 1915 tragedy a genocide.

So what has changed? Yetvart Danzikiyan, themanaging editor of Agos, believes that Erdogan’spartnership with Bahceli, struck in the run-up tothe April 2017 referendum on swapping theexisting parliamentary system for an executivepresidency, is a big factor. “Ever since the AKPestablished its coalition [with Bahceli] and a suit-ably nationalist stance, it has reverted to thestate’s old reflexes and habits on the Armenianquestion,” he told Al-Monitor. Erdogan bankedon nationalist support to push through the con-stitutional changes that will formalize his sweep-ing powers. The new rules are set to kick in aftersnap presidential and parliamentary polls thatare due to be held on June 24.

Paylan agrees with this assessment. “Thecharges against me are not a surprise; the cli-mate has changed and there were several clearsigns of this,” Paylan told Al-Monitor. “I spokeabout the genocide many times in the past, butAKP members in the parliament didn’t blink. Itwas only Bahceli’s people who protested,” herecalled. Then in January 2017, Paylan, who hasbeen a deputy since 2015, was temporarilybanned from parliamentary sessions for broach-ing the subject of the wholesale killings not onlyof ethnic Armenians but of Assyrians, Greeks andJews who were “lost” and “driven from theselands in large massacres [and] genocides.”

Undeterred, Paylan pressed for formal recog-nition of the genocide and the establishment ofa commission to investigate the events leadingup to it in a bill he submitted last month. It wasrejected.

The government’s waning tolerance was onfull display April 24, the day Armenians world-wide mark the anniversary of the deaths of theirforefathers. Turkish police detained activists

gathered in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet for unfurlingbanners that read “genocide.”

The move against Paylan has sparked rebukesfrom the European Union. Kati Piri, the Turkeyrapporteur of the European Parliament calledthe case “unacceptable.” She told Al-Monitor,“This latest incident is a new front in the attackagainst fundamental rights in Turkey. If evenelected parliamentarians cannot express their

opinions, where does this leave ordinary citi-zens?”

Paylan believes the arrest of prominent busi-nessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala arelinked to his long-running support for a broadrange of civil society initiatives aimed at promot-ing peace between Turkey and Armenia. Kavala,who commands global respect for his commit-ment to human rights, conflict resolution andpromotion of the arts, has been behind bars for198 days. A staunch secularist who spoke upagainst Gulenist infiltration of the justice system,Kavala has yet to be indicted amid farcical claimsthat he was involved in the coup.

All of this is unfolding as neighboring Armeniaembarks on a new path of reform pledged by itsnew Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who sweptto power in the mass demonstrations thatengulfed the former Soviet republic last month.Pashinyan said he was ready to establish diplo-matic relations with Turkey without any precon-ditions while pushing for recognition of the

Armenian genocide at a global level. TurkishPrime Minister Binali Yildirim said he was willingto consider the offer but suggested Turkey wouldonly do so if Armenia shelved the genociderecognition campaign.

The two countries were on the brink ofreopening their sealed borders and establishingdiplomatic ties under a 2009 deal brokered bySwitzerland and backed by the United States.

But it fell apart when Erdogan, who was thenprime minister, insisted that Armenia withdrawfrom the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave it wrestedfrom Turkey’s close ally Azerbaijan in a shortand nasty war in the early 1990s. The HDP haspledged to revive the Zurich protocols withoutany preconditions as part of its campaign mani-festo.

Khatchig Mouradian, a lecturer at ColumbiaUniversity who has done extensive research onthe Ottoman Armenians, rues another missedmoment. “Following the transformations ush-ered in by the Velvet Revolution in Armenia,Ankara had a golden opportunity to reciprocatepositive signals from Yerevan regarding the nor-malization of relations,” Mouradian told Al-Monitor. “Instead it invokes Article 301, whichbears the stains of Hrant Dink’s blood, to goafter Garo Paylan.”

Paylan insisted none of this will stop him fromhis quest for justice. “They are trying to silenceme. They will fail,” he said.

Garo Paylan

Turkish Authorities Turn Focus on Paylan

YEREVAN — President Armen Sarkissianreceived on May 16 President of the House ofRepresentatives of the Republic of CyprusDemetris Syllouris.

After a brief tête-à-tête meeting, delega-tions met in the extended format.

Welcoming the guests, the President ofArmenia noted that high-level visits, such asthis one, strengthen and expand the bilateralrelations. According to the President, the exist-

ing total mutual understanding and supportmanifest the greatest result of the historicallyfriendly relations of the two peoples.

According to Syllouris, the two nationshave always relied on universal human valuesand principles; because of this, they havebeen able to withstand all hardships.

The parties concurred that the Armenian-Cypriot relations built on a strong historicalfoundation and mutual trust have great

potential for development.Sarkissian and Syllourisstressed the importance ofinvigorating the political dia-logue and development ofeconomic ties, particularly inthe areas of tourism, servicesand banking.

They also highlightedcooperation in the scientificarea and joint programs.

Sarkissian expressed grati-tude to the people andauthorities of Cyprus forbeing among the first to rec-ognize the ArmenianGenocide and lending a handto a segment of Armenianswho survived the Genocideperpetrated by the OttomanEmpire against Armenians at

the beginning of the last century. They weregiven a shelter, and later, the opportunity tolive and work.

At the meeting discussed was the impor-tance of ratification and implementation bythe countries of the European Union of theArmenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced

Partnership Agreement. Syllouris expressed support of the Cypriot

side to the negotiations on the NK issue con-ducted in the framework of the OSCE MinskGroup. In his turn, President Sarkissianhailed the constructive and balanced posi-tion of Cyprus on this issue.

President Armen Sarkissian, right with the President of theHouse of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus DemetrisSyllouris

Cyprus Parliament President Visits Sarkissian

Meeting between President Armen Sarkissian, right with the president of the House ofRepresentatives of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Syllouris and their staffs

6

Community News

Cutting Edge COAF SMARTCenter Set to TransformLori Region of Armenia

YEREVAN/NEW YORK — Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) has worked onadvancing rural communities throughout Armenia since 2004, with nearly $40 mil-lion being raised over the years in support of numerous infrastructure improve-ment projects and comprehensive community-led programs in education, health-care and social services. On its 10th anniversary, COAF announced its novelSMART Initiative as the vehicle for expanding its vital work in each of Armenia’srural provinces. The innovative rapid expansion strategy will establish state-of-the-art education-

al SMART Campuses throughout Armenia, offering rural populations with ground-breaking programs in education, economic development and healthcare. The flag-ship COAF SMART Campus will open its doors in the Lori region of Armenia onMay 27, providing its 150,000 people with access to technology-driven programsfrom a broad and diverse range of disciplines. As one of the most trusted organizations engaged in rural development in Armenia,

COAF has been empowering the country’s rural population by utilizing collaborativeand inclusive approaches. COAF’s main objective has been to serve as a catalyst infostering a sense of ownership among Armenia’s rural inhabitants, encouraging themto become active stakeholders in their future advancement. Customized approachesaddressing the specific needs and challenges of each community have provided COAFwith crucial knowledge and experience on how to bring about dramatic changes inrural education, as well as raising awareness on a global level.The COAF SMART Initiative will continue connecting rural Armenia to the

international community via technology, providing access to experts worldwide.The COAF SMART Campuses will offer rural teachers, healthcare professionals,social workers and businesses with vital skills that will spawn a new era of cre-ativity and innovation. Additional emphasis will be placed on language and com-munication, local entrepreneurship/economic development, active citizenship andpersonal development. Information technology and foreign languages are a prior-ity for SMART programs; hence, all programs and learning materials will utilizedigital solutions and English.During the opening ceremony of the COAF SMART Campus on May 27, guests

from around the world will have the opportunity to tour the regional educationalhub and learn about the various SMART programs being offered, such asblockchain technology, robotics, agriculture, child development, media literacy,arts, science and health education. A number of COAF SMART partners will also be showcased at the official open-

ing. One highlight is the SAP Next-Gen Lab which will bring the latest blockchaintechnology to students at the COAF SMART Center. Students in the region will gainaccess to SAP’s instructional resources in virtual reality design and iOS applicationdevelopment. Other key partnerships include Arloopa, a leader in augmented reali-ty (AR) and virtual reality (VR) founded in Armenia and operating globally. COAF is also collaborating with PicsArt, an app that allows over 100 million

monthly users worldwide, the ability to edit and share photos in fun and creativeways. A new partnership has also been forged with Instigate Robotics andInstigate Training Center, aimed at bringing diverse technology and educationalknowhow to the COAF SMART Center. Creative Educational Technologies (CET), the official representative of LEGO in

Armenia, will also be conducting workshops with children on the day of the open-ing. Arpi Solar, a producer of clean energy and solar power will also support theopening. In addition, artwork by Syrian-Armenian children will also be exhibitedon loan from the Cafesjian Center for the Arts.

COAF Founder Dr. Garo Armen with two children in Lori

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

Boyajian Exits NYCongressional RaceIn Favor of 107thAssembly DistrictCAMBRIDGE, N.Y. (Post-Star) — Democrat

Don Boyajian announced on the afternoon ofMay 15 that he is dropping out of the 21stCongressional District race in favor of seekinga seat in the 107th Assembly District thisNovember.“After speaking with thousands of residents

across upstate New York, I have realized thatone of the most important ways to make a realdifference in our communities is to effectchange right here at home,” said Boyajian in anews release. “Ensuring that every child hasaccess to high-quality public education, address-ing the heroin and opioid epidemic, creatingstable new jobs and protecting our environ-ment all starts within our state government.”The municipal and environmental lawyer will

take his campaign finances, totaling more than$200,000, to help launch his bid for theAssembly. Boyajian has picked up endorse-ments along the way, including from 113thAssemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-RoundLake.“I strongly endorse Don Boyajian to repre-

sent the 107th District in the New York StateAssembly,” said Assemblywoman Woerner. “Asan upstate New York native and WashingtonCounty resident, Don understands the needs ofour local families, business owners, and farm-ers. As a lawyer experienced in the public andprivate sectors, Don also has the practicalknowledge and skills to effect real change instate government to meet those needs. I amhighly confident that Don is the best candidateto represent residents of the 107th AssemblyDistrict, and that his experience and prioritieswill shape our community for the better.”Washington County Democratic Committee

Chair Melissa Shea has also offered backing forBoyajian. “We are so excited and supportive tohave Don run for the 107th Assembly District,”Shea said in a news release. “He is a strong can-didate and a team player who understands theimportance of Democrats working together toprovide real advocacy for working peoplethroughout upstate New York.”Republican Jacob Ashby defeated Democrat

Cynthia Doran to replace former AssemblymanSteve McLaughlin, who is now the RensselearCounty executive, in a special election held inApril. Ashby will serve through the end of theyear.The 107th Assembly District encompasses

the towns of White Creek and Cambridge,Rensselear County, excluding the city of Troyand town of North Greenbush and parts of east-ern and northern Columbia County.

Glendale Cop TiedTo Mexican MafiaAnd ArmenianOrganized Crime,Feds Say

By Alene Tchekmedyian andRichard Winton

GLENDALE (Los Angeles Times) — As farback as 2015, a Glendale narcotics detectiveused burner phones to tip off gangsters aboutupcoming raids, once allowing a top target offederal law enforcement to elude arrest for amonth, authorities said on May 15.John Saro Balian is also suspected of collab-

orating with other criminals to steal cars, pre-sumably to sell abroad, and taking money tohunt someone down.When confronted by federal agents in four

interviews over the last year, authorities sayBalian, 45, lied about his ties to the MexicanMafia and Armenian organized crime inSouthern California.“I’m not [expletive] on anybody’s payroll,” he

told the Los Angeles Police Department andFBI in one interview.Now, the veteran officer who once served as

the spokesman for the Glendale PoliceDepartment is facing up to five years in feder-al prison. Prosecutors this week chargedBalian with one count of making false state-ments to federal investigators, according to acriminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.“Mr. Balian moved in criminal circles and

operated as though he was above the law byrepeatedly lying to hide his criminal activity,”Paul Delacourt, assistant director in charge ofthe FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in astatement. “His alleged actions impeded legiti-mate investigations into organized violentcrime and consequently presented a threat topublic safety.”It’s unclear whether Balian has retained an

attorney.Balian was identified as a person of interest by

the FBI’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force,which in 2016 was probing ties between theMexican Mafia and Armenian organized crime.Since then, three confidential informants

have described a series of troubling interac-tions with the detective — known to them as“Saro” — that are detailed in a 47-page affidavitsupporting the complaint. In some cases,Balian appears to have instigated clashesbetween the two sides, according to courtrecords. Investigators corroborated some ofthe informants’ stories with cellphone records,police reports and interviews.In one incident, Balian allegedly offered an

informant and a second man $100,000 to“scare” the bodyguard of an Armenian busi-nessman in Commerce, a request that led to ashooting in July 2016.After the encounter, the second man spoke

with the informant.“I think I hit him,” he said, according to the

filing. Later, he added, “I think I killed him.”The alleged shooter gave the gun to the

informant, who said he gave the gun to Balian,according to the filing. It’s unclear whether thebodyguard lived.In one case, that same informant described a

situation in which Balian offered a tip about agang sweep, allowing a top target — aFrogtown gang member — to flee before agentsarrived.“Tell your boy Bouncer that he’s the No. 1

on the list for tomorrow,” Balian warned,according to the affidavit. It took agents anoth-er month to arrest the target.The informant also said Balian gave him

locations of marijuana grow and drug stashsee GLENDALE, page 7

Don Boyajian

7S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

Glendale Cop Tied toArmenian OrganizedCrime, Feds SayGLENDALE, from page 6houses — information he was privy to as an offi-cer — and told him to “hit them” before lawenforcement could execute their search war-rants, according to the court filing.Balian also allegedly instructed him to “slap

around” people to persuade them to paymoney. Armenians would not respect or payhim, Balian told the informant, if they didn’tfear him, the filing said.Another informant met with Balian up to 15

times in 2015 and occasionally saw him wear-ing a badge and a gun. That person admittedto stealing more than a dozen high-value carsfor Balian and his associate, the filing said. Hesaid he’d leave the keys inside the car and parkit on a designated street, where someone elsewould pick it up.During a search of a third informant’s home,

investigators found handwritten notes in thetrash referencing “Saro” and possible cocaine

shipments from Mexico. It’s unclear whether atransaction occurred and if Balian was involved.Federal authorities Tuesday afternoon were

searching Balian’s Seal Beach home, an FBIspokeswoman said. They were looking for evi-dence of racketeering, interference with com-merce by robbery or extortion, and bribery,according to the affidavit.Investigators first interviewed Balian in April

of last year. He told them he was an expert onthe Mexican Mafia when he worked for theMontebello Police Department, so he used to“stay on top of all these guys.”Balian was one of five Armenian American

officers who sued Glendale in 2010, allegingdiscrimination, retaliation and harassment. Thecity eventually agreed to settle the case, paying$7,500 in Balian’s attorney’s fees, and deposit-ing 250 hours of sick time and 50 hours ofvacation time into his leave bank.

John Saro Balian, shown in 2006, after hebecame a spokesman for the Glendale PoliceDepartment. (Times Community News)

WATERTOWN — Dr. Julien Zarifian,Associate Professor in American History at theUniversity of Cergy-Pontoise, France, andFulbright Visiting scholar, University ofSouthern California (USC) Shoah FoundationCenter for Advanced Genocide Research, willpresent a lecture titled “From Humanitarianismto Abetting Denial: The US and Recognition ofthe Armenian Genocide” on Wednesday, May30, at 7:30 p.m. at the AGBU Center, 247 Mt.Auburn Street, Watertown, MA. The lecture is sponsored and organized by

the National Association for Armenian Studiesand Research (NAASR)/Calouste GulbenkianFoundation Series on Contemporary ArmenianIssues and Outreach Lecturing Fund (OLF) of

the Fulbright Scholar Program.The United States under President Woodrow

Wilson became heavily involved in providinghumanitarian and political support to theArmenian survivors of genocide and displace-ment during World War I. However, US.supportbegan to falter during the 1930s, and in thepost-World War II period American authoritiesresponded ambiguously to Armenian demandsthat the mass killings be recognized as geno-cide. The executive branch systematicallyblocked efforts to pass legislation recognizing itas such. In this lecture, Zarifian will analyze why,

despite decades of efforts and some positiveresults, the Armenian-American advocacy

groups have not yet obtained the full recogni-tion of the Genocide by the US federal author-ities and how Turkey and Turkish groups havelobbied to prevent such a recognition.Zarifian is associate professor in American

History at the University of Cergy-Pontoise,France, and this academic year he is a Fulbrightscholar with the USC Shoah FoundationCenter for Advanced Genocide Research. Hisresearch interests involve US foreign policies inEurasia, the role of ethnic groups in US politi-cal life, and the importance of memory issues inUS political life. Currently, his main researchproject focuses on “The US and the Question ofthe Armenian Genocide, from 1915 to thePresent.”

Dr. Julien Zarifian

Julien Zarifian to Lecture on US and Armenian Genocide,‘From Humanitarianism to Abetting Denial’

DENNIS M.DEVENEY & SONSCemetery Monuments

Specializing inArmenian Designs and Lettering

701 Moody St. Waltham, MA 02543(781) 891-9876 www.NEMonuments.com

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The annualClergy Conference of the Eastern Diocese ofthe Armenian Church of America convenedApril 30 to May 2, 2018, at the RenaissanceWestchester Hotel in West Harrison, NY,hosted by the St. Gregory the EnlightenerChurch in White Plains.Several dozen clergymen active as parish

pastors and in other capacities throughoutthe Eastern Diocese came together for thethree-day gathering to pray and plan for thefuture.Diocesan Primate Archbishop Khajag

Barsamian presided. He opened the meetingwith a prayer for God’s guidance over theDiocesan Assembly’s upcoming deliberations,which would include a decision on the elec-tion of a successor to the office of Primate.Elected chairman of the conference was Fr.

Diran Bohajian (of Fair Lawn, NJ), with Fr.Ghevond Ajamian (Dalas, TX) as co-chairman,Fr. Hovhan Khoja-Eynatyan (Evanston, IL) asArmenian secretary, and Fr. HovnanDemerjian (St. Petersburg, FL) as Englishsecretary.Fr. Mesrob Hovespyan, of the host parish in

White Plains, gave a message of welcome.A message from the Catholicos of all

Armenians, Karekin II, was read to the con-ference. Visiting representatives from theMother See of Holy Etchmiadzin — Fr. DanielTumanyan and Fr. Arnak Harutyunyan —spoke about the work of the Department ofSocial Doctrine at the Holy See and aboutaspects of church life and ministry inArmenia.In his last address to the clergy as Diocesan

Primate, Archbishop Barsamian reflected onthe work of the Diocese, manifested in thebuilding of St. Vartan Cathedral, whichwould celebrate its 50th anniversary later inthe week. He stressed the unifying signifi-cance of the cathedral, which represents theDiocese in its entirety, from its local parishesto the ministries undertaken at the DiocesanCenter in New York.At the conclusion of his remarks, several

clergy with long experience serving in theDiocese under Archbishop Barsamian’s lead-ership expressed their gratitude for his long,dedicated service to the Eastern Diocese, andfor his fatherly love of all the clergy.

Clergy PresentationsA presentation by Fr. Hovhan Khoja-

Eynatyan and Fr. Gomidas Zohrabian(Hartford, CT) of the Sacred Music Council(SMC) revealed their ongoing work on a web-site, mobile app, Divine Liturgy e-reader,development of parish Junior Choirs, andnew print editions of the rubrics for HolyWeek and wedding services and The SacredMusic of the Armenian Church.Fr. Yeprem Kelegian spoke on his work

with the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), andmade a plea for more clergy and parishes tosupport FAR’s many initiatives.Dr. Roberta Ervine gave an inspirational

talk to encourage the common work of gracewhich unites and inspires all clergy and peo-ple of our church.Diocesan Director of Ministries Fr. Mesrop

Parsamyan spoke on the workings of theDiocesan Ministry departments and theeffort to increase cooperation among theministries and local parishes. He introducedthe staff members Elise Antreassian, KathrynAshbahian, Gilda Buchakjian Kupelian, ArpiNakashian, and Dn. Eric Vozzy.

Dn. Artur Petrosyan and Dn. Eric Vozzypresented a new tool for clergy, based onfeedback from the clergy from last year’sassembly, called Kavazan: a phone app whichis a private communication tool for clergy ofthe Eastern Diocese.Findikyan gave a presentation titled “Life

and Death in the Holy Badarak,” giving cler-gy an inspired new lens through which toview the life-giving heart of worship andfaith.Fr. Kapriel Mouradjian (New Britain, CT)

introduced returning guest speaker Dr.Richard Bedrosian, who spoke on the issue ofaddiction and suggested practical steps andresources for pastors to play a role in addic-tion awareness, treatment, and recovery.

Fr. Tadeos Abdalian introducedPennsylvania State Police Lieutenant JohnYunk, who addressed the clergy on how to beprepared and protected in the event of activeshooter situations in church and other publicplaces.Diocesan Council member Paul Mardoian

and Fr. Hovnan Demerjian presented the pos-itive early results of a test program for parish-es to adopt pledge stewardship in place ofdues membership.Diocesan Council chair James Kalustian

spoke to the clergy conference about theleadership transition the Diocese was aboutto embark upon. As a result of the clergy’sdeliberations, a full slate of candidates for theoffice of Primate was presented to the

Diocesan Assembly later in the week. Duringthe conference, the clergy of the Diocesevoted unanimously to endorse all three of thecandidates.In the course of the conference, the clergy

prayed the Peace Service of the Hours. Fr.Stepanos Doudoukjian (Watervliet, NY)offered a personal meditation during one ofthe evening prayers. A special prayer wasoffered by Fr. Hratch Sargsyan (Cleveland,OH) for peace and God’s protection on all ofArmenia’s citizens in a fraught time of tran-sition for the homeland.The conference concluded on the morning

of May 3 with the Divine Liturgy at the St.Gregory the Enlightener Church, celebratedby Fr. Avedis Kalayjian (Racine, WI).

8 S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMUNITY NEWS

WEST HARRISON, N.Y. — Women’s Guild representatives fromlocal parishes across the Eastern Diocese met in early May for the32nd annual Women’s Guild Assembly. The gathering at theMarriott Renaissance Hotel was hosted by the St. Gregory theEnlightener Church of White Plains, and organized by theWomen’s Guild Central Council (WGCC).The attending 44 registered delegates — some 20 of whom were

first-time delegates — represented 25 of the 34 active Women’sGuilds in the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.A business session on Thursday, May 3, included committee

reports, proposals, amendments to bylaws, and elections.Fundraisers included a “Hye Raffle” involving some 45 donated

prizes, a 50/50 raffle, and a Women’s Guild pin sale.Friday, May 4 was devoted to workshops and interactive ses-

sions. Special presentations were made by Garnig Nanagoulian ofthe Fund for Armenian Relief, and Yn. Sirarpi Ayvazian. NancyKassabian led the delegates in an interactive session titled “Guildsin Motion.” Delegates left with a renewed sense of excitement andnew ideas to take back to their local communities.The Women’s Guild delegates also welcomed Diocesan Primate

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian and Primate-elect Fr. DanielFindikyan, as well as a number of clergymen, to their meetings.

Awards Luncheon

The culmination of gathering — the 8th Annual “Women ofWonder” awards luncheon, sponsored by the Women’s GuildCentral Council — was held on Saturday, May 5.This year’s honorees, Aida Pisani and Beatrice Postian, were both

members of the hosting St. Gregory the Enlightener Church. The lun-cheon was well attended by family and friends of the honorees, aswell as clergy and delegates from the Diocesan Assembly meeting, allof whom expressed their warm congratulations to the honorees.In addition to tributes to Aida Pisani and Beatrice Postian, the

program included recitations by Hasmig Minassian and LouisaBaghdasarian (both of the WGCC) and a beautiful performance onthe oud by John Berberian (brother of Beatrice Postian).

Elections and Officers

The Women’s Guild Assembly sessions were chaired byCharlotte Sevazlian, with Yn. Patricia Buttero as vice chair andRobin Williams as recording secretary.Election results from the assembly (pending the approval of the

Primate and Diocesan Council) are as follows:Women’s Guild Central Council: Charlotte Sevazlian (chair),

Nancy Kassabian (vice chair); Robin Williams (recording secretary);Liz Barone (corresponding secretary); Hasmig Minassian (treasur-er); Yn. Patricia Buttero (assistant treasurer); DeborahDerAsadourian, Meline Grigorian, Louisa Baghdasarian (advisors);Marian Varteresian (alternate).Nominating Committee: Barbara Haroutunian (chair), Robin

Williams, Manooshak Penrose, Christine Chorbajian, AngelaNakashian (members); Hasmig Minassian (alternate).Proposals Committee: Adrienne Damian (chair), Lucy Murad,

Lucy Chaghachbanian (members); Sherry Edwards (alternate).Auditing Committee: Karen Dederyan, Janice Kavjian, Sandy

Raphalian.

Diocesan Women’s Guilds Hold 32nd Annual Assembly

558 MOUNT AUBURN STREETWATERTOWN, MA 02472

Telephone (617) 924-7400

Aram BedrosianFuneral Home, Inc.

Continuous Service By The Bedrosian Family Since 1945MARION BEDROSIAN

PAUL BEDROSIANLARRY BEDROSIAN

GiragosianF U N E R A L H O M E

James “Jack” Giragosian, CPCMark J. Giragosian

Funeral Counselors576 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown, MA 02472, TEL: 617-924—0606

www.giragosianfuneralhome.com

Diocesan Clergy Gather for Annual Conference


COMMUNITY NEWS

WEST HARRISON, N.Y.— The Eastern Diocese’sannual Awards Banquetwent forward in a family-likesetting of mutual admira-tion, affection, and encour-agement, on the evening ofFriday, May 4 at theRenaissance WestchesterHotel in West Harrison, NY.Archbishop Khajag

Barsamian presided overthe banquet, which washosted by the St. Gregorythe Enlightener Church ofWhite Plains. In the courseof the evening, several dis-tinguished individuals wereapplauded for their supportof the Armenian Churchand community.The banquet was the cul-

mination of the 116thAssembly of the Diocese ofthe Armenian Church ofAmerica (Eastern), and wasthematically linked to the50th anniversary celebra-tion of St. Vartan ArmenianCathedral.It was a night that

acknowledged history — andmade some history, as well,as it marked the first publicevent for the new Primate-elect of the Eastern Diocese, the Very Rev.Daniel Findikyan.Maria Stepanian, who chaired the host parish

committee, welcomed all, recalling her upbring-ing in the church, and expressing her gratitudeto Barsamian as he departed from the role ofPrimate after having served for 28 years.Diocesan Assembly chair Diran Jebejian toast-

ed the “amazing moment the Armenian Churchfinds itself in tonight,” referencing both the newera of leadership for the Diocese, and the stun-ning events transpiring concurrently in theRepublic of Armenia.Host parish pastor Fr. Mesrob Hovsepyan

paid tribute to Archbishop Barsamian as aninspiration to him as a priest, and extolled Fr.Findikyan and former St. Gregory pastor Fr.Karekin Kasparian as teachers and mentorswho had shaped his ministry.He thanked Maria Stepanian, the parish

assembly committee, and the legion of parishvolunteers for making the week a success.

Hope, Truth, Gratitude

AGBU President Berge Setrakian offeredheartfelt remarks extolling the role of thechurch in Armenian history, and affirming theneed to support the young Republic of Armeniaand its institutions.Diocesan Council chair James Kalustian

introduced the evening’s honorees, beginningwith Nazar and Artemis Nazarian — recipientsof a special award, the “St. Vartan CathedralGolden Anniversary Medal,” in honor of thecathedral’s milestone. Nazar Nazarian is one ofthe last survivors of the original 35 godfathersof the cathedral consecration in 1968.Mr. Kalustian called the Nazarians “a couple

who are already greatly honored — and greatlybeloved — by this community, and by Armeniancommunities across the globe.”“In awarding them this Golden Anniversary

Medal,” he said, “we also honor that goldengeneration that endured the Genocide, survivedto live another day, built the great institutionsof the reborn Armenian heritage — and remainin our hearts as a light of hope and inspirationfor the future.”The crowd rose in applause for the couple, as

Artemis Nazarian graciously thanked the well-wishers and the Eastern Diocese for their warmcongratulations.

The 2018 “Friend of the Armenians” recipi-ent — Dr. Stephen Smith of the USC ShoahFoundation — was introduced by MelanieDadourian, who has been working with Smithon the foundation’s Armenian Genocideresources.In accepting the award, Dr. Smith gave a

charmingly animated talk in which he honoredthe memory of his personal hero, Armin T.Wegner, the early human rights pioneer anddocumenter of the Armenian Genocide. Smithremembered Wegner as figure who had riskedall to stand up for thetruth; and he thankedthe Armenian commu-nity for their friend-ship in their mutualstance to uphold truth.Receiving this year’s

“Armenian ChurchMember of the Year”award was TorosMangassarian of theWhite Plains parish. Inintroducing him, Mr.Kalustian called him“an Old WorldArmenian gentleman; apatriot and a trueChristian; a devotedson of Armenia, and ofits greatest institution:our church.”He continued: “Toros

is a man loved by hisfamily; admired by hispeers; respected by thepeople who work forhim. He’s a man of gra-cious hospitality andhumility; a friend topeople in their time ofneed — and, in allthings, animated by adeep faith in his heart:all qualities that have exemplified the Armenianspirit at its best.”Accepting the award, Mr. Mangassarian

expressed his deep pride in the Armenian her-itage and church. Reflecting upon a life ofachievement and dedicated service, he offered“my sincere hope that the torch will be passed

to the future.”In a tribute to the bonds of family — in his

own life, and as a force that has kept theArmenian people vital and contributed to theirsurvival against great odds — he said: “Thepower of a loving family can never be over-come.”

The Brightest of Futures

An official visitor from the Mother See of HolyEtchmiadzin, Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisian,representing His Holiness Karekin II, the

Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of AllArmenians, read a special message from theCatholicos and offered his own words of person-al warmth towards Archbishop Barsamian, Fr.Findikyan, and all the people present.To conclude the program, Archbishop Khajag

Barsamian remarked on the beautiful atmos-

phere of the evening, andcongratulated each of thehonorees in turn.He called Smith “a true

friend of our community,who has stood with us incommemorating the deepestwound of our history, theArmenian Genocide.”He thanked Toros

Mangassarian for being “a pil-lar of the Westchester commu-nity,” and also “a dear friend,whose continuing friendshiphas been extremely meaning-ful to me.”And regarding the Gold

Medal recipients, he said:“Nazar and Artemis Nazarianare quite simply the patriarchand matriarch of theArmenian Church community.Their generosity has gracedevery institution, supportedtalent and achievementamong our people, and bene-fitted the progress of Armenia.I value this moment to showthem, once again, our admira-tion and love.”He offered gracious

thanks to Hovsepyan, MariaStepanian, and the entire St.Gregory the Enlightenerparish, and expressed pro-

found confidence in the forward movement ofArmenia and the Armenian world. Recalling the Diocesan Assembly theme,

“Under One Roof,” Archbishop Barsamianasserted that an Armenian Church united in spir-it and aspiration could look forward to thebrightest of futures.During the banquet, Alvard Mayilyan sang the

national anthems of the US and Armenia, andthe Shushi Armenian Dance Ensemble per-formed a spectacular dance number in theirexquisite native Armenian costumes.

The Diocesan Assembly Committee of St.Gregory the Enlightener Church was led by Fr.Mesrob Hovsepyan and Maria Stepanian as com-mittee chair. The central committee consisted ofAnn Guiragosian Daw, Lisa Kouzoujian, ZavenTachdjian and Mary Tatarian, and includeddozens of volunteers from the local community.

Berj Setrakian at the banquet

At Diocesan Assembly Banquet,History is Honored — and Made

Nazar and Artemis Nazarian and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R10

COMMUNITY NEWS


COMMUNITY NEWS

ATP Hosts KentuckyDerby Watch Party

WALTHAM, Mass. — More than 110 supporters, clad in their most fes-tive and colorful attires, attended the inaugural Armenia Tree Project’sKentucky Derby Watch Party at the historic Gore Place estate inWaltham. Party goers were treated to mint juleps and Derby-themed horsd’oeuvres while watching “the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports” on bigscreen televisions.Vanessa Hale of 103.3 AMP Radio served as mistress of ceremonies as

she attended her first Armenian event in Boston. The Kentucky Derby Watch Party event committee led by Linda and

Karnig Ostayan included John Aftandilian, Kristin Asadourian, BergeAyvazian, Karen Gilbert, Kelly Higgins, Gohar Diana Hovsepian, MarieMabardi, Susan Piligian and Daniele Sarkisian.Along with having the opportunity to win prizes that were generously

provided by local businesses by “picking” the Derby winners, after therace attendees spent the evening playing roulette, black jack, and crapsat the casino set up especially for the evening. “A good time was had by all,” exclaimed Executive Director Jeanmarie

Papelian. “We enlisted volunteers from all over the community and every-one seemed to enjoy this new approach to fundraising. And it’s all doneto support ATP’s mission in Armenia. We’re asking people to Get Rootedwith ATP, and if you are planning to visit Armenia, please reach out to usso we can arrange a visit to one of our nurseries!”

Cheryl Ourfalian Smith, Susan Demirjian Kingsley, Grace

Bottomley, Jeanmarie Papelian and Julia Mirak Kew

Armik Malkhassian, Annette Ghahremanian, Ani Ghahremanian, Ralph Rafaelian

Jason Sohigian, Susan Piligian, Cheryl Ourfalian Smith, Jeanmarie Papelian

Jeanmarie Papelian (ATP executive director) and VanessaHale (103.3 AMP Radio personality)

Rachel Boloyan and Cheryl Ourfalian Smith

Avik and Haikouhie Deirmenjian, Ray and Diana Hovsepian, Linda and Karnig Ostayan

Gail Guzelian, Ronald Iberson, Kristaand John Aftandilian

The photographersare Aleen Ostayanand Mira Musallam.


COMMUNITY NEWS

By Taleen Babayan

NEW YORK — Two lifelong musical members of the NewYork community who have contributed greatly to the Armenianheritage and culture — Sahan Arzruni and Kris Kalfayan — werehonored for their decades of service in a special banquet host-ed by the Knights and Daughters of Vartan at the EasternDiocese in New York City on Friday, May 18.It was a fitting occasion, fulfilling the theme of “A Legacy of

Dedication, Commitment and Service,” to highlight the talentsand generosity of both men who have enhanced the rich cul-tural tradition of sacred and classical music, which was underthe auspices of Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of theDiocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). For both Arzruni and Kalfayan, their musical and cultural

roots were instilled in them in a young age in Istanbul, Turkey,before they emigrated to the US topursue opportunities, but maintainingthe Armenian Church and communityas priorities in their lives. Director of the Diocesan Gomidas

Choir for over three decades, Kalfayanattended the Dadyan School as ayoungster and his local ArmenianChurch in Bakirkoy.“My father would take me to church

on Sundays and once he and the choir-master taught me to read Armeniannotation, I started singing along,” saidKalfayan. “The seed was planted with-out me having a clue.” The seed flourished when his family

moved to Washington Heights, NY,just a few blocks from Holy CrossChurch, where he became furtherinvolved in the church’s rituals andmusic where “Saturdays and Sundayswere spent at church.” Paralleling his experiences in

church, he sang in the Children’s cho-ruses of the Metropolitan Opera andthe New York City Opera and attend-ed the High School of Music and Artin New York. During his high schoolyears, he sang with the All City HighSchool Chorus and in college he was amember of the Men’s Glee Club at Fordham University.His friend and fellow Fordham Glee Club member, Dr. Joseph

Van Houten, in his remarks, reflected on his 45-year friendshipwith Kalfayan and his “generous spirit that has manifested inhis lifelong service to the Armenian Church.” “Through his love of music and dedication to God, Kris has

enriched religious services and celebrations throughout hislife,” saidVan Houten. In service

to theArmen ianC h u r c h ,K a l f a y a nwas theorganist atHoly CrossChurch andSt. VartanCathedral,where hewas also thedirector ofthe St.V a r t a nCathedra lBoys Choir

and the St. Vartan Cathedral Choir. Since 1981 he has beenserving as musical director of the Diocesan Gomidas Choir andwas recently invited by Barsamian to conduct the choir for thePontifical Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the 50thAnniversary of the consecration of the St. Vartan Cathedral.“The nourishment for me has been the beautiful music of the

hymns of our divine liturgy,” said Kalfayan, who was awardedthe Pontifical Encyclical and the St. Nerses the Graceful Medalfrom Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of allArmenians in 2008.Dr. Vartan Abdo, founder and director of the Armenian Radio

Hour of New Jersey, served as master of ceremonies of the ban-quet, acknowledging the significance of the evening’s honorees. In his remarks, composer and pianist Arzruni elaborated on

the meaning of his Armenian ancestry. “Being Armenian is the most important aspect of my exis-

tence,” said Arzruni, whohas achieved recognition asan ethnomusicologist,teacher, recording artistand producer. “We all wantto belong and we all needto belong so to endure.”“We need to retain at all

costs our Armenian script,language and land, the most important things Armenians pos-sess,” said Arzruni, who holds degrees from The JuilliardSchool and has pursued doctoral studies at New YorkUniversity. “Let us not lose that.” Motivated by ethnic awareness in the United States, Arzruni

has continuously researched the musical roots of his Armenianheritage, recording anthologies of Armenian piano music aswell as instrumental and vocal Armenian music. He has alsodelivered academic papers and organized symposia for HarvardUniversity, Columbia University and University of Michigan atAnn Arbor, in addition to writing books and contributing arti-cles for academic journals. Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin I awarded him an

encyclical and the Sts. Sahak and Mesrob Medal in 1996; andin 2016, Arzruni he received the MovsesKhorenatsi medal for promoting the cul-tural ties between Armenia and theDiaspora. During the Knights and Daughters of

Vartan awards ceremony, TigranSahakyan, Sbarabed of the MamigonianLodge and Christine Akyemeniciyan,Dirouhie of the Anahid Otyag, presentedArzruni and Kalfayan with their medals. “I’m truly humbled to be honored for

doing something I love to do, serving ourchurch and our community to the best ofmy ability,” said Kalfayan, who recog-nized the legacy of the founding mem-bers of the Gomidas Choir. “It’s an honor and privilege to direct

the Gomidas Choir,” said Kalfayan. “I’mhere this evening because 70 years ago,three dedicated, faithful servants of theArmenian Church decided to continuewhat they were a part of in Istanbul.”“There is a need for a renewed spirit of

collaboration, a need to stay faithful toour ageless values, a need to reclaim our language and culture,and a need to endure under the guidance of our nobleArmenian characteristics,” said Arzruni. “The Knights andDaughters of Vartan is an organization that helps us reach sucha goal.”

Continuing the musical richness of the evening was a cultur-al presentation by Maria Sahakyan, founder and director ofAstghikner Junior Vocal Ensemble of St. Gregory theIlluminator Parish in Brooklyn, accompanied on the piano byLina Panfilova.“As an artist, I feel it’s very important for the community to

honor lifelong musical contributors, such as Kris and Sahan,because they are the people who are keeping Armenian musicalive, and making the whole world recognize Armenian musicand culture,” said Sahakyan. In his benediction, Barsamian expressed thanks to the

Knights and Daughters of Vartan who gave everyone an oppor-tunity to “come together to honor dedicated and committedmembers of our community.” “I can say proudly that Sahan and Kris are my brothers,” said

Barsamian. “Each one of us are given so many gifts by God butit is our choice to use those gifts in our selves and share thosegifts with others.”The honorary banquets, the brainchild of chairman emeritus,

Hirant Gulian, has become a tradition for the Knights andDaughters of Vartan. The objective of the event is to shed lighton the tireless participants in the community, who drive theArmenian people forward, while also benefiting Armenia.

Proceeds from the evening supported the organization’s edu-cational program at American University of Armenia.

Photos by Ohannes Tercan

Knights Honor Arzruni, Kalfayan for TheirContributions to Culture

Tigran Sahakyan, Sbarabed of the Mamigonian Lodge, presenting Kris Kalfayan with his certifi-cate and medal

Sahan Arzruni

Maria Sahakyan performing during the cultural program

Kris Kalfayan

13

‘The WomenWho MappedThe Stars’

Van Dyke’s Newest PlayBrightens Cambridge Skies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Nora TheatreCompany’s “The Women Who Mapped theStars,” just finished a month-long run at theCentral Square Theater, as part of the Britd’Arbeloff Women in Science Production Series,and the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, a CentralSquare Theatre and MIT program that createsand presents plays that deepens public engage-ment and artistic and emotional experienceswith science. An engaging tribute to the power of women

to look beyond time and circumstance to fur-ther our understanding of the universe, play-wright Joyce Van Dyke’s world premiere of “TheWomen Who Mapped the Stars” hits the markwith plenty of factual scientific information,winning dialogue, clever timing and quick wit.Aspiring characters, ranging from young in ageto the more experienced, interact in a convinc-ing style under good direction with simple buteffective sets. Working at Harvard College Observatory in

the late 1890s, the fervent accomplishments offive hard-working “women who mapped thestars” were kept in the shadows even thoughtheir contributions to astronomy were, frankly,astronomical. Numerous struggles for women inthe workplace — from inequality in pay to nothaving the same rights as men — were depictedin the play. In one instance, women weren’t

allowed to use telescopes in the workplace butmen were. Then there was the man who yearslater took credit for a scientific discovery thathad been initially made by a woman.The Poet’s Theatre and director Jessica Ernst

provided early script development assistance toVan Dyke during four workshops over twoyears. Some of the greatest writers were quotedwhen appropriate to the dialogue includingShakespeare’s “Look how the floor of heaven isthick inlaid with patines of bright gold!” from“The Merchant of Venice.” Fastidious researchwas conducted at various scientific institutionsand libraries. “Some of the research was done at the Center

for Astrophysics where we were able to look atthe actual notebooks kept by the womenastronomers in the play, as well as photos, andthe equipment they used,” shared Van Dyke,continuing, “Also the Harvard Archives whichhas collections of the women’s papers. I alsoread some of the scientific papers that these

see PLAY, page 16

CuratedArt ExhibitAt Diocese

By Taleen Babayan Special to the Mirror-Spectator

NEW YORK — The striking, handcraftedimages on display, ranging from a blue doveenmeshed in red and orange hues, to the intri-cately coiled letters of the Armenian alphabet,marked the centennial anniversary of the firstrepublic of Armenia, both in word and indeed, in a special art exhibition from May 17to 19 at the Diocese of the Armenian Churchof America (Eastern). Throughout the course of the weekend,

close to 100 pieces from lifelong artist AvedisBaghsarian’s collection were sold to supportthe Fund for Armenian Relief’s Avedis andArsho Baghsarian Scholarship Program, themission of which is to educate talented youngstudents in Armenia who are pursuing careersin journalism and the fashion industry. Curated with diligence by Vicki Shoghag

Hovanessian, an advisor to the Minister ofCulture of Armenia, the event was sponsoredby the Ministry of Culture of the Republic ofArmenia, the Permanent Mission of theRepublic of Armenia to the United Nationsand the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) and

sought to combine the influential art ofBaghsarian while educating the next genera-tion of creatives in the homeland. The filled-to-capacity crowd at the opening

reception on Thursday, May 17, broughttogether supporters and art aficionados whohad a chance to engage with Baghsarian, whohas had an illustrious career photographingrenowned figures, and to learn more abouthis process and inspirations behind each ofhis pieces. “Avedis is not only a pioneer in many artis-

tic forms but he is also an inspiration to theyounger generation,” said Hovanessian in herwelcoming remarks. “In addition to his artis-tic talents, Avedis is a true philanthropist.”Hovanessian reflected on Baghsarian’s

career that has spanned six decades andincludes multiple art forms, including sculp-ture and industrial design. While establishinghimself on an international platform, he main-tained his ties to his homeland and to the cityhe has lived in for over 50 years. During theemotional aftermath of September 11,Baghsarian was awarded a solo exhibition by

see EXHIBIT, page 14

T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O RS A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8

Arts & Living

Our Eyes AreOn Armenia

GYUMRI, Armenia — The world is a small and marvelous place. Those who arefortunate to know the sweet bite of preserved Armenian apricots stirred in to fresh

yogurt or honeyed green walnuts eatenwith a cup of thyme tea sipped on a chillyafternoon in Gyumri know that vast beau-ty and a difficult reality make life inArmenia a challenge for the strong,resilient people who live there.

I have traveled to Gyumri three times in the past two years to develop a projectcalled New Illuminations which unites women artists with the ancient practice ofhand bound books, known to many as illuminated manuscripts. New Illuminationsconnects women to their heritage while empowering them through personal nar-rative writing and brings the book art form in to contemporary and eager hands.These hands are ready to meet the world with a feminine perspective on life toldfrom a densely patriarchic society. This project has improved the lives of over 75artists and has an active audience in the cultural hub of Armenia.What brought me to Armenia in the first place was John Stanmeyer, world-

renowned National Geographic photographer and humanitarian. During a work-shop with him, and Nazik Armenakyan and Anush Babajanyan of 4Plus in Gyumri,I interviewed and photographed women artists to learn about the challenges theyface in daily life and in pursuing their profession as artists. In that first visit I metwith 25 women in their homes, in parks or cafes, in the schools they attend or

teach in, and at the offices where they work. It was a whirlwind immersion in tothe lives of women who are mostly well-educated, but subsumed after college intomarriage and family life, many forgetting the fires of passion that fueled their edu-cation in the first place; so many told me “no one cares about the women ofArmenia.” They are truly under the radar of world attention, many living in poverty

see ARTISTS, page 15

Gyumri artists with Suzi Banks Baum in front of the Matenadaran by AnushBabajanyan

At Press Night for “The Women Who Mappedthe Stars,” playwright Joyce Van Dyke standswith two cast members: Sarah Newhouse (in thecenter) who played Annie Jump Cannon, andChristine Power (on the right) who playedAntonia Maury.

By Nancy Kalajian Special to the Mirror-Spectator

N. KALAJIAN PHOTO

By Suzi Banks Baum Special to the Mirror-Spectator

Suzi Banks Baum, left, interviews Mariam Simonyan (Photo by Knar Babayan)

Vicki Shoghag Hovanessian, curator, deliver-ing her welcoming remarks

Curated ArtExhibit atDiocese EXHIBIT, from page 13Citibank, evoking his artistic take on the shad-ows of Manhattan’s skyscrapers.

“He is an accomplished artist, whose workshave been recognized all around the world andtoday, you will be able to discover his art your-self,” said Hovanessian, who has championedartists in Armenia over the last 20 years to “keepthem on the Armenian soil.”

“His talent in art and his love for Armenia istruly is an inspiration,” she concluded. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts and

Parsons School of Design, Baghsarian, who isoriginally from Jerusalem, acknowledged the sup-port of his wife, a successful shoe designer in herown right, who “stood by me during my days asan aspiring photographer and pushed me to fol-low my dreams.”He expressed appreciation for Hovanessian’s

effective leadership and insights, noting, “herdrive and her knowledge of art was the forcebehind the show.” Thanking guests for their support of the chil-

dren of Armenia, he shared his artistic philoso-phy with humility. “As far as the work, it is what I saw,” said

Baghsarian. “Composers write music, writerswhat they feel and photographers capture whatthey see, and that’s what I did.” Mher Margaryan, deputy permanent represen-

tative of Armenia to the UN, focused on the100th anniversary of the Republic of Armenia,reflecting on the country’s short life whose “his-toric lessons are still very relevant.” He cited thechallenges facing Armenia but expressed confi-dence that “with the joint efforts of our compa-triots in the Diaspora, we can realize the dreamof many generations and have a strong and suc-cessful Armenia.”(Armenia’s UN Ambassador Zohrab

Mnatsakanyan was named the country’s new for-eign minister earlier in the month.)A testament to these joint efforts and connec-

tion of the Diaspora to the homeland areRuzanna Gishyan and Armine Sahakyan, tworecipients of the Avedis and Arsho BaghsaryanScholarship Program, who shared their educa-tional and professional updates, along with wordsof gratitude from Armenia. Gishyan, who studied journalism and media

studies at Yerevan State University, earning bothher bachelor and master degrees with honors, iscurrently a journalist and news anchor at RadioLiberty Armenian Service. “I love my work because it gives me an oppor-

tunity to truthfully present people’s lives and tryto help those who are in need,” said Gishyan. Sahakyan, who studies at the State Academy of

Fine Arts in Armenia specializing in FashionDesign, also expressed her warm sentiments tothe couple.

“It means so much to me that my benefactorhas the same passion for creating arts as I do,”said Sahakyan, who is especially inspired by theArmenian alphabet and balances her art with ser-vice work, volunteering at FAR’s summer campfor orphans.She looks forward to earning her diploma and

presenting her first collection in a profession she“loves more and more every day.”

“We are proud to run the Avedis and ArshoBaghsarian educational fund that supports tal-ented students to realize their dream of highereducation,” said Garnik Nanagoulian, ExecutiveDirector of FAR, who along with SandraShahinian, a member of the Board of Directors,served as advisors to the exhibition. “Throughthis benefit exhibition we witnessed the magnifi-cent art of a multi-talented Armenian-Americanartist, for whom being Armenian means to sharetogether in a proud culture and heritage.”That pride in the Armenian culture was

instilled in Baghsarian by his family while grow-ing up in Jerusalem’s Old City and it is what moti-vates his desire to fund art students in Armeniaso they can nurture and pursue their creativevisions, just as he did as a 10-year-old when, at theencouragement of his father, he apprenticed witha local photographer. Immigrating to the US in1955 to continue his education, he was drafted

into the U.S. Army where he served as a combatphotographer, later opening his own photogra-phy studio where he focused on fashion and com-mercial assignments and won numerous awardsin the ensuing decades. Shifting gears in 1992,Baghsarian fulfilled new artistic callings bydesigning and producing a collection of tabletopaccessories, winning the prestigious InternationalDesign Magazine Award, while simultaneouslypublishing several photography books. In a post-event interview, Baghsarian said he

was “overwhelmed” at the opening reception,particularly by the “enthusiasm and excitementof guests.”The highlight for him was interacting with the

Armenian school students from the metro area,who visited the exhibition over the course of theweekend.“I received so much satisfaction from meeting

the students, who asked brilliant questions,” hesaid. He appreciated their dialogue and taughtthem that “the eye, not the camera” takes thephotos. The chance to meet with the artist in an edu-

cational platform was at the behest ofHovanessian, who recognized the importance of“the spiritual nourishment of art, particularly foryoung students.”

Baghsarian’s relationship with FAR dates backmany years when he sold his large collection ofsculptures and earmarked the proceeds forArmenian students, ultimately laying the ground-work for he and his wife’s scholarship program.

“I’m very proud to read the letters thescholarship recipients send us every year,”said Baghsarian. “Learning about their accom-plishments and bright futures gives us greatjoy.”Fostering the artistic ambitions of the next

generation comes full circle for Baghsarian who“fell in love with photography” as an adolescent.“I saw for the first time the process of making

a print and I thought, that’s magic,” he said. Overthe years, he perfected new techniques while for-mulating his own unique style, portrayedthrough his alphabets - a combination of his com-puter drawings and photographing certain pat-terns with his iPhone - as well as a photo of a sym-bolic dove, where Baghsarian intricately injecteddyes with hypodermic needles and used a tinybrush air gun for effect. The image, he says, was inspired by the raising

of the Armenian flag at the United Nations in1992, when he found himself explaining the col-ors of the flag to a curious bystander. “To me, redrepresents the past, blue as the color of peace and

orange symbolizes harvest, which is the future.” Baghsarian’s brand of contemporary art is in

line with Hovanessian’s artistic inclinations andshe praises his versatility and multi-pronged tal-ents as an artist, while also being “completelydevoted to helping students in Armenia,” anendeavor Hovanessian is equally dedicated to inher ongoing mission to shine the spotlight onartists from Armenia.

“The world is going toward contemporary artand it’s very important Armenia stays in step withthe rest of the world,” said Hovanessian.“Armenia was behind the iron curtain for so longand now with the blockades, it’s difficult for artistto be introduced to the outside world.”When Armenia gained independence almost

three decades ago and the Diaspora began initia-tives in the homeland, Hovanessian realized “noone was helping the artists survive,” so she tookit upon herself to help pave the way for the coun-try’s contemporary artists to receive recognitionin the international arena.

“Art balances one’s life by expressing humani-ty and imagination while bringing emotions,desire and thoughts to light,” she said. “The pastis already in the present, so we have to showcasenew artists because if we don’t do it now, thenwhen will we?”


ARTS & LIVING

Chilled Summer Squash and Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS6-7 medium zucchini, yellow crookneck or pattypan squash, slicedor diced

1 large onion, diced2 medium garlic cloves, minced2 cups potatoes, peeled, cubed or diced2 medium stalks celery, diced (plus tops)2 medium carrots, diced6 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (to taste)2 tablespoons unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil (to taste)2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (to taste)1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt1/2 teaspoon white or black pepperPinch of dried thymeNon-fat plain yogurt as garnishChopped chives, basil, parsley, paprika or mint as garnishHalf and half or fresh ricotta and juice of 1/2 lemon

PREPARATIONPre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix bread crumbs, one tablespoon

melted butter, and nuts together in a medium bowl and set aside.Boil carrots until tender, drain, mash, and set aside.Sauté onions, bell pepper, green onions and garlic in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil for 5-8 minutes, toss, and set aside.In a large bowl, combine the carrots, milk, eggs, cooked vegetables, cheese, and spices together, and mix well. In a separate large bowl, combine the flour, salt, dry mustard, and baking powder; add the carrot mixture to the dry ingredients, toss,

and mix thoroughly.Turn into a buttered 9 X 13 baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs and nut mixture. Dot top of casserole with butter and bake

for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees or until bubbly. Garnish with chopped parsley and dill before serving.Serves 6-8.In a large pot, sauté zucchini, onions, garlic, potatoes, celery and carrots in butter and olive oil for 10-12 minutes or until

vegetables are tender, tossing occasionally.Add the broth, lemon juice, salt, pepper and thyme, stir, and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Remove from

heat and cool for 10 minutes. In a food processor or blender, puree soup (in batches) until medium smooth, but there are traces of zucchini and carrots visible. Serve at room temperature, if desired, or place in a container, cover, and chill for 4-6 hours or overnight. To serve, whisk soup with half and half or ricotta, if desired, and a little lemon juice. Top with a dollop of yogurt and sprinkle with

choice of chives, basil, parsley, paprika or mint.Drizzle with olive oil and serve lemon wedges on the side.Serves 4-6.

*Christine's recipes have been published in the Fresno Bee newspaper, Sunset magazine, Cooking Light magazine, and athttp://www.thearmeniankitchen.com/

Recipe Corner by Christine Vartanian Datian

ARTISTS, from page 13and with the effects of trauma in their familiesand communities, with few services to supporthealthy family life or opportunities for mean-ingful work. It was a hard visit, but while I was there, I fell

in love. I fell in love with Gyumri and the peo-ple who allowed me to photograph them on thestreet, the women who sweep the streets atdawn, and the many women who shoved furni-ture away from walls to show me paintings, whodug out stacks of images to share with me, whotold me stories that they longed to write but didnot think anyone cared about.I care. I care about women’s voices the world

over. This is the work that I pursue in theUnited States and abroad. I am a writer andvisual artist. I utilize the book arts and photog-raphy to tell the stories I hear. In Armenia, Ifound women eager to gather in community tolearn new skills furthering their own artisticexplorations and connecting them to the worldin a new way.

“My book has become my real friend, all myemotions, my life’s events are shared with him,and my book has become my true companion,the best occupation I can ever do. I want todeepen my knowledge of book art and also havea collection of my books,” said one of thewomen, Hasmik Gasparyan, 25.One step towards uniting these artists with

the Armenian tradition of illuminatedmanuscripts was to bring them to theMatenadaran as a group. The Matenadaran is aworld-renowned scriptorium, museum, andresearch center in Yerevan. Dedicated to thepreservation of its collection and furthering thestudy and understanding of the volumes of over26,000 books, the museum is a unique resourcefor Armenians. Yet, most of the women I workedwith in Gyumri, which is just 2 hours away fromYerevan, had ever visited this place.Facilitated by my coordinator Ani Ginosyan,

and with special permission from the leadershipat the Matenadaran, the advanced artists ofNew Illuminations were invited to a special tourof the museum. Of the 11 women who took abus from Gyumri, only three had been therebefore. My Armenian guidebook calls this muse-um, “a shrine to the Armenian language andthe soul of the nation.” The museum containsilluminated Gospels, books about botany, ani-mal husbandry, and philosophy. For genera-tions, Armenians have had personal relation-

ships with these illuminated manuscripts.Villagers go to the Matenadaran to visit thesacred books that once resided in their village.The museum is home to books up to 1,600years old. The illuminated manuscripts were cre-ated in workrooms in monasteries, entirely cre-ated by men until the years of the ArmenianGenocide. Then, during the Soviet occupation,the practice of making these sacred texts fellaway. There are no surviving manuscripts creat-ed by women, though many of the people work-

ing at the Matenadaran are women, skilled, edu-cated, and devoted to preserving this icon ofArmenian culture.These lavishly embellished, hand-made books,

which have extensive historic, spiritual, andartistic value, are missing half of the popula-tion’s vision and voice. The illuminatedmanuscripts shed a light, through language, onthe non-physical entity that is the soul ofArmenia and its people. But, when women’s sto-ries are not told in the archives of human histo-ry, we cannot say we know the whole truth.New Illuminations seeks to carve a new historyof the women of Armenia by empowering themwith skills to create contemporary manuscriptsblazoned with the beautiful and difficult realityof their lives.

“This project helped me to be more self-con-fident, to know myself not only as a person, butas a woman. Most importantly, with the help ofthis project, I was able to drop all my fears. Icould be myself. After the project I started cre-ating different books. And every book has itsown story. I find my consolation in the books.The book is man’s best friend... These bookshave become a part of me. Every book createdby me, have its own character. The book is me,”said Yunona Kirakosyan, 20.

This November, I will return to Gyumri formy third residency. Thanks to the generoussupport of the NAREG Foundation, the work-shops take place in a clean, well-lit space onGhorganyan Street in central Gyumri. I pro-vide all the materials for the book makingalong with lunch for everyone in the work-shop, which includes two translators fromGyumri, and two photographers,one from Gyumri and another fromStepanakert. We work closely andintensively. Since my first visit toGyumri, I have worked with AniGinosyan as my translator. Both inthe interviews with artists and con-ducting the workshops, Ani is inte-gral to the project. She lives andworks as a teacher and translator inGyumri. The workshops are fourfull days long, attended by at least15 women. This year, aided by aspecialist from the Matenadaran,the advanced artists will learn theArmenian book binding style.Recognition of New Illuminationsby the Matenadaran adds a veryrich layer of validity to this project. During my original residency in 2016, HAY-P

Pop-up Gallery of Yerevan produced and curat-ed the first exhibition of the work of NewIlluminations. Produced in an old stone houseon Shahumyan Street in the city center, theexhibit was curated by the HAY-P team of AnnaGargarian and Charlotte Poulain. This exhibitshowed work by three international Armenianbook artists including Dana Walrath (US),

Marsha Nouritza Odabashian (US) and NairiKhatchadourian (FR) along with 30 booksmade in the initial workshop. Hundreds of peo-ple attended the month-long exhibition andaccompanying events, including grandmotherswith grandchildren from the neighborhood andart lovers from Yerevan. In November 2017, weproduced our own exhibition at Café Nancy inGyumri of the 50 new books made during mysecond residency. Over 125 people attendedthis one-night event.Upon seeing the first exhibition of the work

of New Illuminations, Fulbright Scholar ErinPiñon wrote, “New Illuminations is a formative,multifaceted exhibition and bold surge of cre-ative production, which will be written into ournew and evolving history of manuscripts as acritical moment for female artists and creatorsin Armenia.”We weave even closer into this ancient art

form with the vigorous curiosity of artists seek-ing to make a new future for themselves in therapidly evolving country that we love. Our eyesare on Armenia.I will deliver two public talks about New

Illuminations this summer, one for the JewishFederation of Pittsfield, Mass. on June 7 at10:30 a.m. and the second at the CookMemorial Library in Tamworth, NH onWednesday, June 13 at 7 p.m. Fundraising willbegin in earnest in July to fund this project,which requires $16,000 to run successfully.Donations made through our fiscal sponsor,Fractured Atlas, are fully tax-deductible. *Linkto Fractured Atlas https://www.fracturedat-las.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=14652 For more information, please go to

NewIlluminations.com. *Link http://www.suz-ibanksbaum.com/new-illuminations/(Suzi Banks Baum is a writer, artist, actress,

teacher, community organizer, and mom. Withroots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, shelives in the Berkshires of westernMassachusetts. Suzi uses the written word,hand bound books, and photographs to saywhat she means. Her first book, An Anthologyof Babes, celebrates the writing of womenartists. Deeply curious about the thresholds wecross in to creative practice, she writes person-al narrative with an ear for transformation

though engagement with the ordinary. Sheinspires us to live from the space of creativespirit and to value our contributions to theworld and one another through workshopssteeped in book arts, ritual, and writing. Suziteaches in the Berkshires and for theInternational Women’s Writing Guild.Published in The Collection: Flash Fiction forFlash Memory by Anchala Studios and WritingFire by Green Fire Press. Visit her blog at,www.suzibanksbaum.com)


ARTS & LIVING

Specializing in Fine Luxury Residential Sales 172 Newbury Street • Boston, MA • 617 236.0711• www.CampionRE.com

ANNIE YOUSSOUFIANFor All Your Real Estate Needs.

609.933.5280

= = = == == = ==08&:=<

Our Eyes Are on Armenia

Main Gallery New Illuminations (photo by Raffi Berberian)

Family studies an artist’s book (Photo by Raffi Berberian)

T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O RS A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 816

JANUARY 20-27, 2019 — Armenian Heritage CruiseXXII 2019. Western Caribbean Cruise aboard the RoyalCaribbean’s Allure of the Sea. Traveling to Nassau,Cozumel, Roaten, Costa Maya. Cabin Rates, starting from$949/person based on double occupancy, including portcharges and ACAA registration fee. Government rates of$137.45 are additional. Armenian entrainment,Armenian cultural presentations, Armenian Festival Day,Tavlou and Belote Tournaments and much more. CallTravel Group International at 1-561-447-08750 or 1-866-447-0750 ext. 108, contact person Janie.

MAY 31 — Annual Spring Dinner and Drawing spon-sored by the Friends of Holy Trinity 1000 Club, 6:30p.m., Charles and Nevart Talanian Cultural Hall, HolyTrinity Armenian Church of Greater Boston, 145 BrattleSt., Cambridge. Open to all. You don’t have to be a mem-ber of the 1000 Club to join us for a delicious losh kebaband pilaf dinner, $9.99 per person; tickets on sale at thedoor. Regular monthly raffle drawing at 8 p.m., plus 5$25 door prizes. “One-time” numbers will be sold on thenight of dinner; special offer: purchase five “one-time”numbers for $20, save $5. For further info, contact theHoly Trinity Church office, 617.354.0632, or logontowww.htaac.org/calendar/event/560/

JUNE 1-2 — Armenian Food Festival Sponsored by theHye Pointe Church Women’s Guild, 11:30 a.m. to 6:30p.m. Armenian Apostolic Church at Hye Pointe, 1280Boston Post Road, Haverhill. Chicken Kabob, Losh Kabob,and Kheyma Dinners, Armenian Delicacies includingLahmejoon, Cheese Beoreg, Spinach Pie, Tourshi,Cheoreg, Kataif, Paklava, and many more delicious items.For more information call the church at (978) 372-9227.

JUNE 9 — The Friends of Armenian Culture Society willhost the 67th annual Armenian Night at the Popson Saturday, at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall in Boston.Talented violinist Haig Hovsepian, a winner of the 2017Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition anda rising sophomore at the Cleveland Institute of Music,will appear as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestraunder the direction of Keith Lockhart. He will perform theSibelius Violin Concerto in D-minor. The Pops will pre-sent Dance to the Movies with Dancing CelebrityPros, So You Think You Can Dance top finalists,and singing stars from American Idol and The Voice.Tickets $95, $70 and $35, available at:www.FACSBoston.org

JUNE 10 — St. James Armenian Festival. DeliciousArmenian Food! Live Music! Raffle! Children’s Activities!Moon Bounce, Balloons, Face Painting, Caricatures andMore! Rain or Shine - On Church Grounds. Sunday. 465

Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown MA [email protected]/festival

JUNE 16 – Book presentation by Adrienne Alexanian(editor) of her father’s memoir Forced into Genocide:Memoirsof and Armenian soldier in the Ottoman TurkishArmy Worcester Library – Saxe Room – 2 - 3:30 pm 3Salem Square – Worcester MA – (508) 799-1655 ext. 3Book signing will follow the presentation – proceeds willbe donated to charity

JUNE 18 — The Gregory Hintlian Memorial GolfTournament, sponsored by Holy Trinity ArmenianChurch of Greater Boston at the Marlborough CountryClub, Marlborough; 9:30 a.m., registration; 11 a.m.,“Shot Gun.” Join us for a day of golf - player’s fee: $175(includes hospitality, lunch, dinner, green & cart fees,prizes and gifts) – or just dinner and a social evening($50 per person). Limited to 128 players. Tournamentand tee sponsorships available. RSVP deadline, June 11.To register or for further information, log ontowww.htaac.org/calendar/event/562/ call the Holy TrinityChurch Office, 617.354.0632, or email [email protected].

JUNE 20 — Tea & Tranquility, Armenian Heritage Parkon The Greenway, Boston, Wednesday, 5-6:30 p.m.Meet & Greet! Enjoy Tea & Desserts hosted by MEM TeaImports and The Bostonian Hotel. Walk the Labyrinth. Forfirst-time walkers introduction to walking a labyrinth at5:30 p.m. RSVP [email protected]

JUNE 28 — Under a Strawberry Moon, ArmenianHeritage Park on The Greenway, Boston, Thursday,8:30– 9:30 p.m. Meet & Greet! Moonlit Labyrinth Walk.Enjoy chocolate-dipped strawberries, hosted by VickiLee’s and Ice Teas, hosted by MEM Tea Imports. RSVPappreciated. [email protected]

JUNE 7 — Talk by Suzi Banks Baum about NewIlluminations, the Jewish Federation of Pittsfield, 196South Street, Pittsfield. 10:30 a.m. Baum has traveled toGyumri three times in the past two years to develop aproject called New Illuminations which unites womenartists with the ancient practice of hand bound books,known to many as illuminated manuscripts. NewIlluminations connects women to their heritage whileempowering them through personal narrative writingand brings the book art form in to contemporary andeager hands. For more information, go toNewIlluminations.com or http://www.suzibanks-baum.com/new-illuminations/

JULY 7 — Save the date! Armenian Church of Cape Codsecond annual Kef Time dinner and dancing at theCape Club, 125 Falmouth Woods Road, North Falmouth.Leon Janikian Band with DJ and special appearance byHarry Minassian. Details to follow.

JULY 18 — Tea & Tranquility, Armenian Heritage Parkon The Greenway, Boston. Wednesday, 5- 6:30 p.m.Meet & Greet! Enjoy Tea & Desserts hosted by MEM Tea

Imports and The Bostonian Hotel. Walk the Labyrinth. Forfirst-time walkers introduction to walking a labyrinth at5:30 p.m. RSVP appreciated. [email protected]

AUGUST 15 — Tea & Tranquility, Armenian HeritagePark on The Greenway, Boston, Wednesday, 5-6:30p.m. Meet & Greet! Enjoy Tea & Desserts hosted by MEMTea Imports and The Bostonian Hotel. Walk theLabyrinth. For first-time walkers introduction to walking alabyrinth at 5:30 p.m. RSVP [email protected]

SEPTEMBER 16 — Sunday Afternoon at the Park forFamilies & Friends. Armenian Heritage Park on TheGreenway. 2-4 p.m. Enjoy Boston Hye Guys Ensemblewith Ron Sahatjian, clarinet; Joe Kouyoumjian, oud; ArtChingris, percussion. RSVP [email protected]

NOVEMBER 14 — Najarian Lecture on Human Rights atHistoric Faneuil Hall, Boston Wednesday. Doors openat 6:45pm, Program at 7:30pm. Reception follows at TheBostonian Hotel An endowed public program ofArmenian Heritage Park on The Greenway. Details forth-coming.

SEPTEMBER 30 — Save the Date! Armenian Fund USAand Ardzagang Armenian TV are proud to presentArtash Asatryan and band, guest singer GrishaAsatryan, from Armenia! The concert is dedicated toArmenia’s and Artsakh’s independence celebration.Don’t’ miss the performance by the son and grandson ofthe legendry singer Aram Asatryan. Proceeds to benefitFruitful Artsakh Project. 4 p.m. Bergen PAC, 30 N. VanBrunt St., Englewood.

JUNE 16 — The Cultural Committee of Sts. Sahag &Mesrob Armenian Church Presents A Tribute ConcertHonoring Garo Nichanian ( Bass – Baritone, Canada),for his 40 years of contribution to the Arts andCulture. Invited Performers: Janette Khalarian, singer,Mari Panosian, piano, David Griego, flute, Nazeli DanceGroup Saturday, 7 p.m. Egavian Cultural Center 70Jefferson Street, Providence, RI. Wine & refreshments willbe served. Admission $20

Calendar items are free. Entries should not be longerthan 5 lines. Listings should include contact infor-mation. Items will be edited to fit the space, if needbe. A photo may be sent with the listing no later

than Mondays at noon.

CC AA L E N D A RL E N D A R

MASSACHUSETTSMASSACHUSETTS

MASSACHUSETTSRHODE ISLAND

MASSACHUSETTSFLORIDA

ARTS & LIVING

NEW JERSEY

GLENDALE — The ArmenianAmerican Museum GoverningBoard has announced three majorcommunity-wide events followingGlendale City Council’s historicapproval including Museum Dayon August 5, Telethon onSeptember 9, and Gala Banquet onDecember 9.The Armenian American

Museum is a landmark project gov-erned under the united leadershipof ten leading Armenian American cultural, philanthropic,and religious non-profit institutions. In April 2018, theGlendale City Council agreed to negotiate the final GroundLease Agreement for the Museum’s Downtown Glendalesite with a lease term of up to 95 years at $1 per year, mark-ing a major milestone for the project.“We are excited to announce the Armenian American

Museum’s upcoming community-wide events and urge ourcommunity members to mark their calendars and partici-pate to celebrate and support the project,” stated MuseumExecutive Committee Chairman Berdj Karapetian.The following community-wide events have been scheduled:

The Armenian AmericanMuseum Day on Sunday, August5, will bring together hundreds ofcommunity members for a specialceremony and celebration to markthe historic day at the future siteof the cultural and educationalcenter in Downtown Glendale’sCentral Park.The Telethon on Sunday,

September 9, will be broadcastfrom Los Angeles and streamed

online worldwide to educate the public on the ArmenianAmerican Museum and raise awareness for the historicproject. Proceeds will benefit the construction of theMuseum.The Gala Banquet on December 9 at the Ray Dolby

Ballroom in Hollywood will be the signature event of theyear for the Armenian American Museum. The inauguralevent will bring together donors, supporters, public offi-cials, and community leaders for a memorable evening tocelebrate and support the landmark project.Visit www.ArmenianAmericanMuseum.org for more

information.

Van Dyke’s Newest PlayBrightens Cambridge SkiesPLAY, from page 13women published, as well as books and articles by historians of sci-ence who wrote about them, and most recently Dava Sobel’s TheGlass Universe.” Armenian audiences may be more familiar with Van Dyke’s ear-

lier works, such as “Daybreak” (earlier titled “Departed/a dreamplay”) about two women survivors of the Armenian Genocide, or“A Girl’s War.”

“The play is different from my earlier work, but I see con-nections too. Women and their struggles and their relation-ships are center stage. Time and space are fluid. The plot is notlinear. Characters conjure up those from another time that theyneed to interact with. Because it was going to be a play aboutthe work of these women at the Observatory, it had no overlapwith my own family history. But ‘Daybreak’ is the only play I’vewritten about my own family history. ‘The Women Who Mappedthe Stars’ is not connected to my Armenian roots, but it isdeeply connected to my experience as a woman and to thestruggle of women to do meaningful work. In spite of all theresearch I needed to do in order to write this play, I wrote itfaster than any other. At some level I believe it was already inme,” Van Dyke remarked.

Armenian American Museum AnnouncesMajor Community-Wide Events


COMMENTARY

The Battle of Sardarapat and its Aftermath

COMMENTARY

By Edmond Y. Azadian

One hundred years after the historic Battle of Sardarapat,a visit to ground zero allows a visual survey of the landscape,along with resurrecting the memory of those who sacrificedtheir lives at that spot and the memory of those who wit-nessed the victory which sealed Armenia’s fate for posterity.Armenians may not have demonstrated unity in their self-

rule. However, that unity was amply visible during the battlesof survival. Some of those battles took place in Sardarapat,Bash Abaran and Ghara Kilisa (Vanadzor) in May 1918, withthe decisive victory scored on May 28. That date signifies thevictorious outcome of a war and the founding of the firstindependent Republic of Armenia.After a century-long debate, discussions and controversies

among Armenians, the dust has already settled and bare his-torical facts are there to stay.The Battle of Sardarapat enjoyed a groundswell of support

from all Armenians, including refugees from Sassoun andVan who joined the army and the popular forces for a laststand in history.The Turks were not satisfied with exterminating our people in

historic Armenia and usurping their native land. They aimed atthe last haven of the Armenians in the Caucasus to finish up thegrizzly job and connect Turkey with the lands of their brethrenin Central Asia, on their way to the pan-Turanic dream. But theirmarch was interrupted on the slopes of Ararat, where Armeniawas reborn on a sliver of its historic homeland.

The victory at Sardarapat belongs to all Armenians as wellas to the fledgling republic, which was born from the bloodand sweat of heroes.The fighting force at Sardarapat had many components:

professional military commanders, highly educated in the col-lapsing Tsarist army, like Gen. Movses Silikian, TovmasNazarbekian, Daniel bek-Piroumian (general commander)and General Boghos bek-Piroumian. Also vital were heroeslike Dro (Drastamat Kanayan) who rose from the ranks offedayees, civilian volunteers as well as members of the cler-

gy. A case in point is the participation of the futureCatholicos of Cilicia, Bishop Garegin Hovsepian, who wasdubbed at the time as Yeghishé, a historic figure in the Battleof Avarayr, 451 AD, for inspiring the warriors through hispatriotic fervor.For a long time, Dro and Aram Manoukian had been depict-

ed as the only true heroes of the battle, sometimes overshad-owing the professional military, who were the real architects ofthe victory, because those military leaders did not have politicalheirs. Today, they are all on a pedestal for the entire Armeniannation. They were the ones who collectively fought without dis-tinction, saved a piece of historic land from calamity and creat-ed an ancestral homeland for posterity.For a long time, there was also historic injustice when com-

paring and contrasting the first independent republic to theSoviet-era republic. As we revisit historic facts without preju-dices and biases, we realize the three republics complementeach other in unity.As much as the Soviet-era leaders are maligned as corrupt

communists, many of them harbored true patriotism andnationalism in their hearts to generate pride in the battle ofSardarapat and inspire respect for our martyrs. Aghasi Khanjyan, Grigor Haroutunyan (who barely spoke

Armenian and who claimed Western Armenian territories),Yakob (Hakob) Zarobyan, Andon Kochinyan and GarenDemirjian, pretending to be devout communists, sometimesmore Catholic than the Pope, were the ones who built themonumental edifices at Tsitsernakabert and Sardarapat, con-travening the Soviet foreign policy which treated Turkeywith kid gloves, hoping to lure that country away from the

embrace of theNorth Atlantic TreatyO r g a n i z a t i o n(NATO).Those leaders took

such initiatives attheir own peril;Khanjyan was assas-sinated by LavrentiBeria and Zarobyanwas demoted. Yetthey all stand tallbefore history andtheir own people.This year, Armenia

also celebrated the50th anniversary ofthe construction ofthe Sardarapat mon-ument, which chal-lenges the gardens ofVersailles in its ambi-tion. Sardarapat hasmore than architec-tural symbols. Itdenotes the survivalof a beleaguered peo-ple in the tumult ofhistory. It was

designed by the prominent architect and sculptor RafaelIsraelian. The Sardarapat Memorial Complex is composed ofa curved wall depicting the details of the war as well as twobullheads and a row of dignified falcons keeping watchful eyeon Yerevan.On the centennial of the Battle of Sardarapat, a visit to the

site is a journey into history where the war cries come alive,the agony of the dying soldiers is painfully felt.That visit becomes more significant on the heels of the soft

landing of the Velvet Revolution.

Established 1932

An ADL Publication

EDITOR

Alin K. Gregorian

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Aram ArkunART DIRECTOR

Marc Mgrditchian

SENIOR EDITORIAL COLUMNIST:Edmond Y. Azadian

CONTRIBUTORS:Florence Avakian, Dr. HaroutiunArzoumanian, Philippe Raffi Kalfayan,Philip Ketchian, Kevork Keushkerian,Harut Sassounian, Hagop Vartivarian,Naomi Zeytoonian

CORRESPONDENTS:

Armenia - Hagop AvedikianBoston - Nancy KalajianNew York/New Jersey - TaleenBabayanBerlin - Muriel Mirak-Weissbach

Contributing Photographers:Jirair Hovsepian

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator is published weekly, except two weeks in July and the first

week of the year, by:

Baikar Association, Inc.755 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA 02472-1509

Telephone: 617-924-4420

FAX: 617-924-2887

www.mirrorspectator.com

E-Mail: [email protected]

For advertising: [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

U.S.A. $80 a year

Canada $125 a year

Other Countries $190 a year

© 2014 The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Periodical Class Postage Paid at Boston, MA

and additional mailing offices.

ISSN 0004-234X

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TheArmenian Mirror-Spectator, 755 Mount AuburnSt., Watertown, MA 02472

Other than the editorial, views and opinionsexpressed in this newspaper do not necessarilyreflect the policies of the publisher.

MirrorSpectator

Established 1932

An ADL Publication

Copying for other than personal use orinternal reference is prohibited withoutexpress permission of the copyrightowner. Address requests for reprints orback issues to:

Baikar Association, Inc.755 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA 02472-

1509

LETTERS

To the Editor:I read with much interest and admiration

Aram Arkun’s article (May 12, 2018 issue ofthe Armenian Mirror-Spectator) titled “BostonRenaissance Discusses Events in Armenia.”The article was comprehensive and quite infor-mative, even for one who was present.It is necessary for me, nonetheless, to make

a correction in the segment that relates to mycomments during that event. The articlestates that “Libaridian … then made the con-troversial claim that two years ago in April2016, it was the Armenian government ‘whichstarted action on the border and then said

that the Azerbaijanis are attacking.’”It is possible that I misspoke or that the

author misheard. I do not have a recording ofmy talk. But that is not important. It is verypossible that I misspoke. What I meant to say was “ten years” ago,

that is in 2008, when the country was alsogripped by a popular and wide protest move-ment, following Serzh Sargsyan’s first con-tested election as president.The 2016 four-day war was certainly initiat-

ed by Azerbaijan.Jirair Libaridian

Cambridge, Mass.

Libaridian Clarifies Point Regarding Government Actions

Aram Arkun Responds: Dear Dr. Libaridian,I appreciate your kind words. I did

make a recording of the evening’sprogram, which confirms the accura-cy of my quotation of your statementabout the April 2016 events. Thankyou for clarifying for the record yourunderstanding of the cause of thoseevents.


COMMENTARY

By Michael Melkonian

On April 23, under immensepressure, Armenian PrimeMinister Serzh Sargsyan resigned.This resignation was prompted by11 days of protests in Armenia,with hundreds of thousands ofArmenians peacefully protestingSargsyan’s appointment to PM

after his presidential term ended earlier this year.The protests were led by former journalist Nikol Pashinyan,

who heads the opposition party, Civil Contract, and whorebuked the advice of other opposition party leaders in callingfor protests against Sargsyan’s appointment.Pashinyan was arrested in the early days of the protest under

an unclear charge, which prompted even more protests byArmenians even more dedicated to remove Sargsyan frompower. All of these protests were peaceful, as the impressionwas meant to peacefully protest government corruption, not totry and violently overthrow a government.Everyone from all walks of Armenian life joined in on these

protests, with young student activists, liberal politicians, civilsociety workers, and even the military forming a large group ofthe people protesting the blatant corruption in the Armeniangovernment. These protests have been brewing for years, with many

Armenians being disillusioned by its politicians pulling out fromcloser military and economic ties with Europe and choosing toalign itself with Putin’s Russia. Sargsyan was a main proponentof closer Russia ties, with him pulling out of numerous EU dealsas president and choosing Russian economic and military dealsinstead. Sargsyan appointing himself as PM to continue hishold on power was the last straw for many Armenians. It wasreminiscent to what Vladimir Putin did in 2008 when heappointed himself PM after his presidential term ran out.To his credit however, Sargsyan resigned his position without

bloodshed, which is something that many leaders in post-Sovietcountries have failed to do. These protests showed the worldthat people power still meant something. Sargsyan, who was anArmenian lion in politics, resigned and surrendered to anunarmed nonviolent crowd. His resignation prompted massjubilation across Armenia, with young people especially cele-brating their historic achievement on getting the corrupt out ofArmenia. The next step for the Armenian people should be to hold new

elections, monitored by the U.N. for fairness, to get a govern-ment that is fairly elected by its own people. This new govern-ment will sanguinely help cast aside the chains of governmentcorruption in Armenia and help prepare Armenia for a new eraof freedom and prosperity.Hopefully, these protests inspire oppressed people from coun-

tries such as Iran, Russia and Turkey that peaceful demonstra-tions are still the most effective way for change, and that violentmeans never solve the problem, as seen with the failed coup ofTurkish President Erdogan in 2016. History proves this point,

with every great movement being sparked by nonviolentprotest, such as the peaceful protests of Indians wanting free-dom and self-determination from the British and the peacefulAmerican civil rights protests of the 1960s calling for racialequality.Lastly, this revolution proved a point to puppet masters like

Putin that his efforts to control smaller countries like Armeniathrough its politicians will not be tolerated by the people forlong, as it is human nature for people to want freedom, some-thing that Putin and his corrupt political puppets lack.As President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never

more than one generation from extinction,” and the Armenianpeople proved that their freedom will never be extinct becauseof this generation or the next.

(Michael Melkonian, from Los Angeles, is a senior atClark Magnet High School who will begin his collegecareer this fall majoring in political science and eco-nomics, hoping to one day make positive changes

through public policy. He has been interning in thePolitical arena since his junior year of high school, whichincluded Brian Mast’s Congressional Campaign, Marco

Rubio’s Senatorial Campaign, and Donald Trump’sPresidential Campaign. For the past year, he has beeninterning for the political consulting firm, Majority

Strategies, and is currently working on their client ColeHarris’s campaign as the Republican Candidate for

Lieutenant Governor of California.)

An Angry ErdoganStands to HarmIsrael-TurkeyEconomic TiesBy Sami Peretz

ELATIONS between Israeland Turkey haven’t been warm in recentyears, but they certainly improved afterIsrael agreed to provide $20 million incompensation to the victims ofIsrael’s Mavi Marmara raid.Now that appears to be at risk as the

two sides engage in a staccato duel ofrecalled and expelled envoys and insults.

The war may not end with words but rather endanger eco-nomic ties.Until the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, Turkey-Israel ties

encompassed a close defense relationship as well as trade andtourism. The defense links, which included joint air force exer-cises and big contracts such as a $1 billion project by Israelto upgrade 170 Turkish tanks, evaporated in an instant.But the trade and business ties remained apart from the

political tension and even grew stronger in the years that fol-lowed. As much as Turkish President Recep TayyipErdogan raged at Israel, he let business go on as usual forfear of the damage it would do to his country.Who has gotten the most over the years from the relation-

ship isn’t easy to quantify. If an Israeli buys a low-priced shirtmade in Turkey who benefits the most? The seller who earnsa profit or the buyer who gets a low-cost shirt? That is themagic of the market economy: When it works it works toeveryone’s’ benefit. That’s why the politicians left it aloneeven as they traded insults and accusations.For logistical reasons, foreign trade is usually conducted

with a country’s nearest neighbors. But Israel does virtuallyno business with its Arab neighbors, so Turkey has alwaysheld out big promises, albeit promises that have never beenfulfilled.In any event, economic ties between the two countries

began to warm without any direct connection to the agree-ment they came to in 2016 over the Mavi Marmara affair.Instead, it was due to the Israeli government’s efforts to lowerthe cost of living and to the Syrian civil war.The cost-of-living drive included creating more competition

in the aviation sector to lower airfares. That led to a surge ofair travel to Turkey by Israelis, not to stay there but to useIstanbul for connecting flights to their final destinations.In 2012, before Open Skies went into effect, 686,000 people

traveled to Turkey from Israel on 4,706 flights; last year near-ly 2 million did on 12,400 flights. Both sides have benefitedfrom this. Israelis get much cheaper airfares and Turkish air-lines and airports benefit from the business.Turks don’t travel to Israel in big numbers, but the Syrian

civil war suddenly made it an important transit point forTurkish agricultural and other exports to Jordan, since theycould no longer ship their goods by truck through war-tornSyria.Nowadays Turkish freighters arrive in Haifa Port with trail-

er trucks and drivers onboard. The trucks and their Turkishdrivers travel through Israel to the Sheikh Hussein Bridgeand on to Jordan. About 30-40 trucks do the route everyweek, a relatively small number that could be a lot bigger ifTurkish companies decided to service the giant Saudi marketvia the same route.David Behrisch, managing partner at Tiran Shipping, an

Israeli shipping agency, says that so far the ups and downs ofIsraeli-Turkish diplomatic relations have had no effect on theconvoys.“I haven’t felt any tension, even after the Mavi Marmara. I

don’t think I’ll feel it now either, I spoke with the Israeli con-sulate in Istanbul and they told me that it’s business as usualand it will stay that way,” he said.Israeli-Turkish trade came to $4.3 billion in 2017, with a

significant surplus for Turkey. Israeli exports to Turkeyamounted to $1.4 billion while imports from Turkey were$2.9 billion. Israeli exports to Turkey are mainly chemicalsand refined oil and its imports mainly cars, metals, machineryand textiles.The real opportunity for boosting trade is natural gas.

Turkey needs it and Israel has big reserves. Turkey is danger-ously reliant on imported Russian gas and Israel wants to useits energy resources to enhance its standing in the region.The two sides have held talks for many years, but nothing

has resulted. As one source put it, “There are always talksunderway with Turkey. I assume that if they were to getstrong support from both governments, they would advance.”One reason Israel isn’t giving full-throated support is that it

would prefer to export its gas to Europe through Cyprus andGreece, which is a more politically reliable option thanTurkey, said Prof. Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University. No onewill invest the $2 billion required to construct a pipeline todeliver the gas to Turkey from Israel’s Leviathan field withoutguarantees of long-term contracts.Zisser says Erdogan has always been careful to contain his

anger when it comes to the Turkish economy and knows howto distinguish between politics and business. “He knows thelimits, but in the dynamic of the Middle East it’s hard to knowwhere he will take his next step,” he says.

(This commentary originally appeared in Haaretz on May 16.)

US and Israel ShouldRecognize theArmenian Genocide

By Zev Chafets

Last week Turkey recalled its ambassadors toAmerica and Israel. That decision came in response toIsraeli forces killing 60 Palestinian protestors attempt-ing to cross the Gaza border. Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan called Israeli actions a “genocide” onTurkish TV; Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu shot back on twitter: “I suggest that he notpreach morality to us.”Erdogan’s attack has opened an unanticipated win-

dow of opportunity, both in Washington and Jerusalemto break a decades-long refusal to join historians andmany governments in recognizing a real genocide thatTurkey continues to deny — that against ArmenianChristians.This, of course, is history. The genocide took place

during World War I. It was carried out by an OttomanTurkish caliphate which is long gone. But in the MiddleEast, history matters. Turkey has made it a policy tobaldly deny the genocide, and demand acquiescence inthis lie as the price of good relations with Israel andother countries.In 2011, when France recognized the genocide,

Erdogan accused the French of doing even worse inAlgeria. Five years later, when Germany followed suit,Erdogan again lashed out. “Look at your own history,”he instructed the government of Angela Merkel. “Youare proud of having burned people alive in ovens.”Despite such rhetoric, almost 30 countries have now

officially classified the mass murder of Armenians as“genocide.” Israel and the United States are not amongthem.For years, the Armenian community in America has

petitioned the government to officially recognize thegenocide. U.S. presidents, acting on expert advice andthe pressure of the Turkish lobby, have refrained doingso. This year, on “Armenian Remembrance Day,”President Trump issued a statement to mark the occa-sion that managed to omit the words “Turkey” and“genocide.” Less than a month later, Erdogan reward-ed Trump’s kow-towing by labeling him an accompliceto what he called Israel’s genocidal actions againstPalestinians. The best answer Trump could give nowwould be to demonstrate American leadership by offi-cially recognizing the Armenian genocide.

see RECOGNITION, page 20

Armenia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’ Should BeModel for Other Countries to Follow

R

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 T H E A R M E N I A N M I R R O R - S P E C TAT O R

COMMENTARY

19

My TurnBy Harut Sassounian

Diaspora Minister ProposesForming A Parliament for theDiaspora in ArmeniaThe new Diaspora Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, appoint-

ed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on May 11, announcedthat a second legislative body would be created in Armenia torepresent Diaspora Armenians.This is a fascinating concept, but not a novelty.

Interestingly, former Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan,during her visit to Los Angeles on January 30, 2011, made asimilar announcement, proposing the creation of a Senate inArmenia in addition to the existing Parliament that wouldpartially include Diaspora Armenians.I wrote an editorial in 2011, a few days after Minister

Hakobyan’s announcement, and raised several questionswhich also apply to the proposal made by the new DiasporaMinister earlier this month.The most important issue is that the creation of a second leg-

islative chamber requires amending Armenian’s constitution —not an easy task! Without such an amendment, the structureof the Armenian government cannot be altered. Interestingly,the new diaspora minister did not mention that his proposalwould require constitutional changes. This is a serious issue as

the constitution was last revised in 2015 and it is neither like-ly nor desirable that it be altered so soon. Even the newly-appointed prime minister acknowledged that it is not a goodidea to tamper with the constitution every so often. It is alsoimportant to note that despite the former diaspora minister’s2011 announcement, when Armenia’s constitution was even-tually amended in 2015, the concept of a second legislativechamber for the diaspora was not included in it.Since the new diaspora minister asked for input from

Armenians overseas about his new proposal, I would like toraise a number of questions:1) Is the Armenian government willing to amend the con-

stitution to create a second legislative chamber? An alterna-tive option, that may not require a change of the constitution,would be to include Armenians from the diaspora in the pre-sent Parliament. Several countries have adopted such a mech-anism. A thorough study should be made of how other coun-tries have resolved the participation of their diaspora repre-sentatives in their legislative bodies.2) What exactly would be the mandate of the new cham-

ber? Would it only discuss pan-Armenian issues such as theArmenian Genocide, demands from Turkey, the Artsakh con-flict, and matters related to Diaspora Armenians or would itbe also deal with Armenia’s internal problems? MinisterHayrapetyan, in one of his interviews, stated that the newchamber would be a consultative, not a decision-making body.This would raise all sorts of questions both in Armenia andthe Diaspora. Would Diaspora Armenians be content to go tothe trouble of electing representatives from their communi-ties and spending their time in endless hours of meetings inYerevan merely to give advice to the Armenian Governmentthat may not be listened to? Would Diaspora representativesafter a while lose their interest and stop attending the meet-ings of such a consultative body? On the opposite side, wouldresidents of Armenia welcome decisions or even advice from

Armenians who do not live in Armenia?3) How would the representatives of the new legislative

body be chosen? Would they be elected by their communitiesaround the world or would they be appointed by theArmenian Government? In my opinion, Diaspora representa-tives should be elected by their community members, no mat-ter how difficult it would be to organize such electionsthroughout the world. The Armenian Government should notbe involved in elections to be held in the Diaspora.Representatives appointed by the Armenian Government orselected from Armenian organizations would not be able toclaim that they truly represent the Armenians of the diaspo-ra, since the public-at-large has not elected them. The leadersof Diaspora organizations represent only their own members,not the majority of Armenians in the Diaspora, since mostArmenians are not members of any organization. It is also nota good idea to have two legislative chambers in Armenia, oneof which is elected by the citizens of Armenia (the presentParliament) and the second one is composed of appointed,not elected members.4) What would be the criteria for candidates and voters for

the Diaspora chamber? Would it be acceptable that the can-didates be Armenians who are citizens of foreign countries orshould they be asked to acquire at least dual citizenship?Otherwise, it would be odd to have a group of foreign citizens,albeit Armenians, sitting in Yerevan and making decisions orgiving advice that would affect Armenia’s population.5) Would Diaspora representatives of the new legislative

body move to Armenia to participate in year-round sessionsor simply come to Armenia for brief periods to attend meet-ings dealing with pan-Armenian issues?Certainly, there should be no rush to form a second leg-

islative body. As Minister Hayrapetyan suggested, extensiveconsultations should be held in Armenia and the Diaspora tofind a solution that is in the best interest of all Armenians.

By Agop Y. Bedikian MD

Life and death decision taking puts patients,relatives and caregivers in a very difficult situa-tion. The decision taking is harder when ayoung patient has terminal cancer. The patientstake the diagnosis of cancer as a death verdict.They are afraid of pain, suffering and disfigur-ing associated with it. The intense emotionaleffect and the adverse impact on body imagedrive some patients to depression and suicide.The general attitude among physicians in theWest in the recent past changed from givinglimited information to full disclosure about thedisease, treatment and prognosis.I devoted the first four decades of my life to

treat patients with advanced cancer with thebest therapies the clinical research could pro-vide. More importantly, I always made myselfavailable to them and their families as cancertherapy is complicated and affects the patients’family in numerous ways. Very often, I receivedcommunication (letters, phone calls, e-mailsetc.) from patients, families I have never met.They asked questions about the diagnosis, stag-ing of the disease, management, and treatmentoptions. I have never declined answering theserequests. Most of the time, I do not hear fromthem again. On few occasions, I am involved intheir therapy even though it is outside my fieldof subspecialty i.e. malignant melanoma. Onesuch occasion was related to a young plasticsurgeon from Armenia.It all started with a phone call from the office

of Mrs. Louise Manoogian Simone, the formerpresident of Armenian General BenevolentUnion. Her assistant, Barbara Boghosian, a mem-ber of the team responsible for AGBU ArmeniaMedical Programs was desperate. She said“excuse me for intruding; we wouldn’t have calledyou if we had an alternative. We have a youngdoctor in Armenia with the diagnosis of advancedlymphoma, we have been waiting for a secondopinion from a pathologist in MD AndersonCancer Center, and we have heard nothing dur-ing the past six weeks. We sent the pathologyslides with the help of a charity organization inHouston; we chose your name from the short listof Armenian doctors and are seeking your assis-tance to expedite the process as the patient’s con-dition is deteriorating in the interim.”

I inquired about the patient’s medical historyso that I could narrow down as to who mayhave received the pathology slides. Apparently,the patient was treated with antibiotics for ton-sillitis in September 1999. The tonsillitisresolved but his flank pain persisted. A nephrol-ogist thought it may be due to pyelonephritis.He was given multiple antibiotic treatments but

he persisted in remaining febrile. In addition, hecomplained of weight loss and night sweats. A complete physical examination showed that

Dr. Karen Danielyan had an abdominal masswhich histologically was diagnosed as lym-phoma. It was decided to have confirmation ofthe diagnosis before he is brought to UnitedStates for treatment. I traced the pathologyslides and took them to Dr. Mario Luna, thepathology colleague who had collaborated withme in several projects before. I asked him if hecould have a look at the pathology slides ASAPand give me preliminary verbal diagnosis as afavor while I do the necessary paperwork torequest official pathology consultation; in viewof deteriorating condition of the patient in

Armenia,. He looked at the slides under themicroscope and said, ”this is not lymphoma, itis testicular cancer.” Immediately, I called theAGBU office in New York office and conveyedthe new diagnosis and also I requested that thedoctors in Armenia do a blood test to measurethe serum Beta-HCH and alfa-fetoprotein levels;which are often elevated in association with

metastatic testicular cancer. A day later, Mrs.Simone was told that the Beta-HCG level wasover 200000, the highest dilution they couldperform in their lab. Mrs. Simone told me thatthey can no longer bring the patient to theStates for therapy as his condition has deterio-rated significantly while waiting for the confir-mation of the diagnosis. She asked me if I couldhelp. I told her I will be visiting my daughterwho was living in New York in few days and thatI do not mind passing by the AGBU office inNew York and find out the status of the patientthen and what could be done in Yerevan. WhenI called his local oncologist for an update aboutthe patient’s status, he told me that thepatient’s serum bilirubin level was over twice

the normal level and the liver enzyme level hastripled, indicating tumor progression in theabdomen. Then I inquired about the local avail-ability of the anticancer drugs known to beeffective against testicular cancer in addition toantiemetics and other supportive care medica-tions. Fully aware of the latest information about

the patient and the limited availability of localresources for appropriate treatment, I told Mrs.Simone that the patient has very high chanceof developing life threatening complicationfrom chemotherapy because of hepatic andrenal insufficiency. In addition, the prognosis ofpatients with similar liver and kidney dysfunc-tion is very poor as half of them die in 6 to 8weeks. I stressed the fact that we have only one shot

to reverse the deteriorating process in thispatient. Therapy of such patients would requireoncologist with detailed knowledge about thepharmacokinetics of the anticancer drugs cho-sen for treatment to make the appropriate doseadjustment based on the deteriorating kidneyand liver functions. These drugs should beadministered in a fashion different than that isa common practice in Armenia. Then Mrs.Simone told me that despite the grave progno-sis, she has not given up on this doctor, she willdo whatever it takes to try to save him. Sheasked me what would I need if I take charge ofthe management of this case. I told her that Ineed a person willing to administer the anti-cancer drugs as per my instruction with nomodification or delay, monitor the patient close-ly and inform me via e-mail at least twice a day.I would prefer working with a person with lim-ited knowledge in cancer care than with anoncologist because that will eliminate the ten-dency and temptation to modify the treatmentor alter the way the drugs are administered. Inaddition, I asked her commitment to purchaseand delivery of the needed cytotoxic and sup-portive care drugs including antiemetics, antibi-otics and bone marrow stimulant growth fac-tors to make them available when needed local-ly. I provided her with the list of the drugs weneeded and started to take the necessary stepsto initiate systemic chemotherapy using thethen locally available cytotoxic drugs while weprocure and ship the long list of needed drugs.Dr. Armine Kharatian, (Anesthesiologist,

see ETHICS, page 20

An Ethical Dilemma with a Happy Ending

Dr. Karen Danielyan and Dr. Agop Y. Bedikian


RECOGNITION, from page 18Meanwhile, Erdogan’s outburst and the

harassment of the Israeli ambassador on hisway home from Ankara, have lit fires inJerusalem. Two members of Knesset, the rulingLikud Party’s Amir Ohana and Itzik Shmulyfrom the opposition Zionist Unity Party, haveintroduced legislation to end Israel’s embar-rassing silence on the Armenian issue.That silence had been a matter of sheer prag-

matism. Once, when Turkey was a secular, pro-Western country, Israel relied on it as a strate-gic partner in a hostile Arab neighborhood.That rationale no longer holds. Israel can nowtake care of itself. And Erdogan, an aspiringcaliph, is now an enemy. Shortly after heaccused Israel of mass murder, he received acall from his new best friend, Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani, praising him in the name ofIslamic solidarity for standing up to the “Bigand Little Satan,” that is, the US and Israel.In Israel, circumstances have altered con-

sciences. Truth is now in style. “It’s not too lateto do justice,” says Knesset member Ohana.“When Hitler presented Wehrmacht officerswith his plan for mass extermination in Poland,including women and children, he soothed the

concerns about the world’s reaction by saying,‘Who, after all, speaks today of the Armenians?’For that reason alone we should have alreadyofficially recognized this genocide.” At least five senior ministers in the governing

coalition have come out for measures thatwould punish Turkey and recognize its geno-cide. So have the speaker of the Knesset andthe heads of the major opposition parties. It ishard to recall such trans-partisan enthusiasm.Still, nothing will change without

Netanyahu’s say-so. No legislation can passwithout his consent and no new diplomatic pol-icy can be adopted either, as he is also Israel’sforeign minister.Netanyahu is a strategic thinker, and Turkey,

like it or not, is a player in the regional game ofthrones now underway. He will officially recog-nize the Armenian Genocide only if he thinks itfits his purposes. That may be the wrong rea-son, but for once in this debate, for both Israeland the U.S., raw national interest and moralobligation are perfectly aligned: In a waragainst fanatics, truth is a powerful weapon.

(This opinion piece originally appeared onBloomberg. To contact the author of this story:Zev Chafets at [email protected])

US and Israel Should Recognize the Armenian Genocide

ETHICS, from page 19colleague and friend of the patient) agreed toassist me in the delivery of the therapy, monitor-ing and supporting the patient based on instruc-tion sent from Houston through the internet. Within few days, we were ready to start

chemotherapy with appropriate dose modifica-tion. In view of the patient’s compromised renalfunction, I omitted the use of cisplatin, startedthe chemotherapy with Adriamycin andCytoxan at reduced doses on January first,2000. With the return of serum creatinine tonormal before the second chemotherapycourse, cisplatin was added to the regimen.When the drugs procured and sent from the USbecame locally available, I incorporated them inthe treatment regimen as appropriate. Within 6weeks, there was significant improvement of

the renal and liver function test results accom-panied with clinical improvement as well. At thetime, the patient was offered travel to the Statesfor treatment; he declined preferring receivingtherapy close to her family. The patient receivedtherapy with close monitoring for possiblenephropathy and neuropathy before eachcourse. With this regimen, his beta HCGdropped by about 99 percent and his metas-tases shrunk by 90 percent compared with hispre-therapy evaluation. Concerned about theperipheral neuropathy (which could preventhim to practice plastic surgery), the treatmentwas modified. The cisplatin dose was reducedand, etoposide, and bleomycin were introducedin the treatment. After 2 courses of this regi-men, his beta HCG decreased to 15 (normallevel is < 5). Bleomycin was subsequently dis-

continued in view of the possibility of pul-monary damage that may prevent future surgi-cal procedures for resection render him free ofdisease. In summer of 2000, he was started ontherapy regimen including etoposide,Actinomycin D, methotrexate, and leucovorinrescue. After 3 courses his beta- HCG returnedto normal level. The repeat Ct Scans of chestand abdomen showed residual abnormalities inthe lungs, liver metastases and necrotic massadjacent to the left kidney partially obstructingthe left ureter in the abdomen. In view of per-sistent abnormalities on CT scans despite thereturn of serum beta-HCG to normal we couldnot be sure that the last cancer cell had died. When the patient recovered from the general-

ized effects of the systemic therapy, the patientcame to Houston for resection of the residualabnormal areas seen on the CT scans. He under-went extensive abdominal surgery under thedirection of Dr. Richard Babaian. The left kidneyand the necrotic abdominal mass were removed;the microscopic examination of the specimensshowed calcification consistent with metastaticnecrotic germ cell tumor. There were no viablecancer cells was present. Left testis showedmature teratoma with scar, no other germ celltumor component. There were viable cancercells. Over 2 dozen lymph nodes were removed;none showed viable cancer cells. Six weeks later,

Dr. Ara Vaporciyan resected over 2 dozen pul-monary nodules and lymph nodes; microscopicexamination they showed necrosis and fibrosisbut no viable cancer cells in them. During the subsequent year, the patient had

follow-up visits every 3 months together withrepeat radiologic tests and determination ofserum Beta-HCG. The results were negative fortumor recurrence. Then the patient had yearlyevaluation with no sign of tumor recurrence.After 5 years, all tests were discontinued. OnAugust 18, 2000, I received an e-mail fromKaren he said “I finally climbed Mount Ararat.This I dedicated this climbing to my Mother andyou, my doctor, two persons who gave life tome. I reached a peak height of 5,135 meterabove sea level. It was difficult. It is at 5,000meter level, that the eternal ice starts. Withlove, Karen.” The last time I saw Karen was during my visit

to Yerevan in June 2016. He was practicingplastic surgery and remains free of cancer. Hehad built a new surgical unit about 10 milesfrom his clinic in Yerevan. This happy outcomecould not be achieved without the foresight,determination, persistence and support of Mrs.Louise Manoogian Simone. As a result of hersupport, hundreds of Armenian children are liv-ing a normal life without the stigma of cleft lips,palates and club feet under Karen’s care.

An Ethical Dilemma with a Happy Ending

YEREVAN — On May 3 President ArmenSarkissian, accompanied by the chairman ofYerevan Physics Institute’s board of trustees,Nerses Yeritsyan, visited Yerevan PhysicsInstitute (YerPhI) headquarters. The presi-dent, who himself has a PhD in physics, metthe new director and staff. In April, the Board of Trustees of the

Alikhanyan National Scientific Laboratory,YerPhI approved the appointment of AniAprahamian, professor of physics at NotreDame University, as YerPhI’s new director.Aprahamian takes over YerPhI’s leadershipfrom Prof. Ashot Chilingarian who held thisposition for 10 years while simultaneouslycontinuing his role as the head of its CosmicRay Division (CRD). Chilingarian introduced Sarkissian to

some of CRD’s ongoing research projectsincluding the Space Environmental Viewingand Analysis Network (SEVAN), a network ofastroparticle detectors, and CRD’s Light

Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) facility. The SEVAN network was designed and

deployed by CRD scientists and engineers tomonitor cosmic radiation in the atmosphere.Networked cosmic ray detectors are installedin a number of Eastern European countriesas well as in Armenia and Artsakh. Data fromthe detectors is relayed to CRD’s headquar-ters where it is analyzed and made availableto scientists worldwide. Chilingarian spoke about CRD’s annual

international summer school. Included areboth lectures on topics of modern physics, aswell as exercises and the solution of simpleproblems by students. Attendance is free forqualified high school and college students.More information is at www.spc.yerphi.am/index.php/ en/events .The president also was informed about

CRD’s upcoming international conferenceThunderstorms and Elementary ParticleAcceleration (TEPA), held at its Nor Ambert

center from September 17-20. YerPhI scien-tist Dr. Albert Avetisyan introduced the pres-ident to YerPhI’s medical isotope centerwhere research is being conducted to pro-duce medical isotopes. Aprahamian, a parti-

cle physicist herself, will also enhance oppor-tunities for fundamental science at YerPhIusing this cyclotron. She will also bring hernetwork of contacts, which will add to the-scientific presence of YerPhI.

From left to right: Scientists Vahan Elbakyan, Ruben Dallakyan, Andranik Manukyan, GurgenElbakyan; head of the Radioisotope production laboratory Dr. Albert Avetisyan; Director Prof.Ani Aprahamian; Armenian president Prof. Armen Sarkissian; Chairman of AANL board oftrustees Nerses Yeritsyan; Head of Nuclear Medicine Arthur Rostomyan; Eghishe Elbakyan. Prof.Ashot Chilingarian, who took the photograph, is not pictured.

Armenian President VisitsYerevan Physics Institute

Mirror-Spe RMENIAN ctator€¦ · 5/5/2018 · President Urges Prisoner to End Hunger Strike...

Documents

Transcript of Mirror-Spe RMENIAN ctator€¦ · 5/5/2018 · President Urges Prisoner to End Hunger Strike...